
COTTON PLANT. 



Plate I. 






55^ 
3^^ 



4^ ^ 



N^t ig(.c 



PREF ACE. 



The object of this volume is to embody tbe 
principal information which we have obtained 
within the present centm-j on the subject of Cot- 
ton, a]id ])i'esent it in a convenient and avaihtble 
form for all who take an interest in the produc- 
tion of the most valuable plant on the face of the 
earth. 

The author has obtained this information from 
various sources. 1st. From more than fifty vol- 
umes of Reports, Journals, Magazines, Reviews, and 
Treatises on Natural History. 2d. From intelligent 
planters, educated and uneducated men residing in 
various parts of the South, who, for many years* 
have been watching the tender plant from its up- 
rising in May to its last lingering moments in Dcr 
cember. 3d. From direct observation in the field 
with the naked eye and the glass. 



4 - PREFACE. 

To one and all from whom lie has received in- 
formation he returns his sincere thanks, and begs 
leave to express the hope that this volume may be 
a hand-book of intelligence on the subject of which 
it treats. The author has endeavored to present 
the most important matters connected with the pro- 
duction, distribution, and consumption of our great 
staple in a plain and systematic style^ suited to the 
wants and wishes of the great army of industry 
occupying the country from the Atlantic to the 
Rio Grande. The Cotton question is one of deep 
and abiding importance, and it is one in which are 
involved the hopes and the interests of millions of 
the human race. 

Let the Almighty blast the crop growing from 
California to China. Think of the result ! Com- 
merce would drop the sceptre, manufacturers stand 
crippled, capitalists look aghast, and naked myriads 
cry for bread. 

But, if this be fancy's sketch, let us suppose 
another case. Let a government seek, by unjust 
legislation, to crush the only remaining hope of an 
oppressed people — to tie tlie hands of honest indus- 
try, to sicken the heart and madden the head of the 
toiling multitude — to enact the drama of Pharaoh 
and the land of Goshen — ^to restore, to its fullest 
extent, the policy of the lord and master of the 



LIST OF AUTHORS CONSULTED. 

Colonies — to estahlish taxation without representa- 
tion — \hvak. again, though tfal reader, what must be 
the inevitable result ? 

Is it not a dreadful blight sent upon our fields 
by the poisoned breath of a national assembly ? 

We can stand the rot, the rust, the sore-shin, 
the caterpillar, the boll-worm ; but, oh ! may a 
kind Providence and coming patriots deliver us 
from the merciless tax of a radical Congress. 

W. J. B. 

Senatosia, Miss., September 1, 1866. 



In the preparation of this book the following 
works have been consulted, and liberal extracts 
made from them, viz. : 

Patent-Office Reports, 1854, '55, '56, '57. 

Kew American Cyclopaedia — article " Cotton," 

Wailes's "Agricultm^e and Geology of Missis- 
sippi." 

Report on Geology of Mississippi, by Professor 
Harper. 

Report on Geology of Mississippi, by Professor 
Ililgard. 

Report on Geology of Alabama, by Professor 
Tuomey. 



6 LIST OF AUTHOES CONSULTED. 

Eeport on Geology of South Carolina, by Pro- 
fessor Brumby. 

Wilson's " Ornitliology." 

Audubon's " Quadrupeds of l!Tortli America." 

" Life of Korth American Insects," by Professor 
Jaeger. 

De Bow^s " Peview," ten volumes. 

Troost and Curry's " Report on Geology of Ten- 
nessee." 

Johnston's " Agricultural Chemistry." 

Liebig's " Agricultural Chemistry." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGK 

Botanical Analysis and Desckiption — Thb Flo'ttee and thb Feuit. . . 9 

CHAPTER 11, 
HiSTOET OF Cotton — Ancient and Modeen 12 

CHAPTER IIL 
1 Cotton Zone OF THE WoBLD IC 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Cotton States of the South 25 

Section 1. Geological Features — Mineral Productions. Sec. 2. Hydrog- 
raphy. Sec. 8. Climatology. Sec. 4. Rain Fall, Dews, and Frosts. 
Sec. 5. Productions of the Fore*t — Flora of the South — Edible Fruits. 
Sec. 6. Fauna of the South. See. 7. Soil of the Cotton States. Sec. 8. 
Agricultural Statistics. Sec. 9. Principal Diseases. 

CHAPTER V. 
Ctlttvatton of Cotton 80 

Section 1. Selecting a Plantation — Classification of Farms — Prices, Em- 
ploying Hands. Sec. 2. Stocking the Plantation — Horses, Mules, 
Farming Implements, &c. Sec. 3. Preparation of the Ground. Sec. 
4. Planting, Time when — Selecting Seed — Quantity to the Acre — 
Planting by Hand — By the Planter — The coming up — A Good Stand. 
Sec. 5. Tending the Crop — Barring off— Scraping — Chopping out — 
Hoeing, and Dirting again and again — Good Seasons — Rapid Growth — 
The First Blossom — The Bolls — Estimated number on a Stalk to make 
a Bale to the Acre — In the Grass and out of the Grass. Sec. 6. Lying 
by — Opening of the Bolls — A fine succession of Rains — Too much 
Rain— Dry Weather. Sec. 7. Picking— August to January — Good 
and Bad Picking— Quantity per Day — Picking by Machinery — Fingers 



b TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAOE 

the best Machine— Storing away the Cotton— Quantity of Seed Cot- 
ton to the Acre. Sec. 8. Ginning and Pressing — Baling. Sec. 9. The 
Market. Sec. 10. The Sucfessful Planter— Experiments made by 
Korthemers in 186&— A Sensible Vermonter. See. 11. The Labor 
Question— Can the White Man labor in the Cotton Fields ?— How do 
the Freedmen work ? — How will the two Classes work together ? — 
What is the probable Future of the Freedmen? — Comparative Esti- 
mate of Free and Slave Labor. 

CHAPTER VL 
Peoduction and Exports of Cotton — Ebmakkb on thb Goteiinment Tax. 107 
Section 1. Production and Exports of Cotton— Statistics — Great Demand 
for American Cotton in all the Markets of the World, Sec. 2. Remarks 
on the Government Tax. 

CHAPTER VIL 
Manttfactuke of Cotton 126 

Section 1. Textile Fabrics — History of the Cotton Manufacture. Sec. 2. 
Cotton Manufactures in the United States. Sec. 8. The Cotton Manu- 
factures of Europe— Manufacture of Cotton by its Producers. 

CHAPTER Vm. 
Consumption of Cotton 148 

CHAPTER IX. 
Cotton Seed — Chemical Composition — Utiuty or Stjeplxts Sbeii — Food 
FOE Cattle— Manijee — Oil — Oil-Cakbs 147 

CHAPTER X 

Diseases of the Cotton Plant 151 

Section 1. Diseases resulting from Insects— Insects frequenting the Cot- 
ton Plant — Insects found upon the Stalks — Insects found on the Leaf 
— Insects found on the Terminal Shoots — Insects found on the Flower 
— Insects found upon the Boll — Insects found on rotted Bolls — In- 
sects ound in the Cotton Fields not injurious to the Crop — Insects 
beneficial to Cotton. Sec. 2. Accidents and Diseases of the Cotton 
Plant, usually from other Causes than Insects — Sore-shin- Frenching 
— The Effects of a bad Subsoil— The Rust— Shedding of young Buds, 
or BoUs, caused by wet Weather — The Rot. 

CHAPTER XI. 

COKOLITDINQ ReMAKKS — ThE COMPLICATED NETWORK OF COTTON — INDFOE- 

ments to Immiqkants — Advantages and Disadvantages — Fittfee 
of the South 24T 



COTTON. 



CHAPTER I. 

BOTANICAL ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION— THE FLOWEE 
AND THE FRUIT. 

An examination of tlie flower of the cotton plant shows 
that it belongs to the 15th class, 12th order of theLinnsean 
system, Monadcl2)kia polyandria. 

According to the natural system, it takes rank with the 
Malvaceoe, which embrace the mallow, hollyhock, okra, &c. 

The generic name is Gossypkim. Fifteen or twenty 
species have been described by Linnfeus and De Candolle, 
the principal of which are Gossypium herbaceum, G. arbo- 
reum, G. hirsutum, G. religiosum, and G. Barbadense. 

The writer is disposed to adopt the opinion that these 
are mere varieties of one original species, although the 
weight of authority is against him. 

Be this as it may, cotton appears in the fields of the 
Southern States in three principal forms, viz., herbaceous, 
Bhrubby, and arborescent, or tree-like. 

The cotton of our hill lands is an herb one to three feet 
high ; that of the bottoms is shrub-like, growing often to 
the height of ten feet ; that of the sea islands is called 



10 BOTANICAL ANALYSIS. 

arborescent. The cotton of the hills and bottoms is short- 
stapled ; that of the sea islands is long stapled. 

A3 more than nine-tenths of the cotton of the country 
beloup;s to the herbaceous species, I shall content myself by 
describing that alone, referring the reader to larger works 
for scientific details concerning the other species. 

GossT/pium herbaceum. Botanical characters. Calyx 
cup-shaped, obtusely 5-toothed, surrounded by a 3-parted 
involucel, called the/orm, and sometimes the square. Leaves 
5-lobed, mucronate, large as a small hand. Stem smooth, 
herbaceous ; woody fibre white, spongy, and brittle, covered 
by a greenish-brown epidermis, very tenacious. 

The branches are long and jointed, bearing at the joints 
bolls of various sizes. 

Root tapering, penetrating deep into the ground. For 
this reason the plant is less affected by drought than and 
other plant of the country. 

Corolla cup-shaped, polypetalous, two or three inches 
long; resembles the okra blossom, only that it is never 
much expanded. It is white or cream-colored on the first 
day till the afternoon, when it changes gradually to a red 
color, closing up and twisting over the germ or young boll ; 
and in a day or two drops off, leaving the boll surrounded 
by the calyx. 

The boll, or egg-shaped capsule, has fi'om 3 to 5 cells, 
many-seeded; seeds large and green, surrounded by a 
tomentose wool. This tomentose wool is the cotton which 
serves to clothe the nations of the earth. 

From this description, it is evident to any one ac- 
quainted with the first lessons in botany, that cotton is 
simply a fruit. It is entitled to the name of firuit, as de- 
servedly as an apple or a peach. The only difference is this : 
The apple or the peach is designed for food ; the cotton is 



THE FLOWER AND THE FRUIT. 11 

designed for clothing. A fully developed apple and a 
fiilly developed cotton boll are homologous. The one is a 
pome, the other a capsule. The one consists of a pericarp 
or rind, pulp, and seed ; so does the other. The pulp of 
the one is good to eat ; the pulp of the other is good to 
wear. All fruit is a developed germ — the base of a pistil. 
In its origin, progress, and maturity, cotton obeys the law 
of fruit development as rigidly as any product of tree or 
shrub. 

By reference to plates Nos. 1 and 2, the reader may 
have a fair view of the cotton plant and its fruit. 

Plate 1 shows the cream-colored corolla on its first 
appearance, emerging above the form. Below this, on the 
left hand, is a green boll. On the right, about the middle 
of the plate, is a boll opening; and immediately below 
this is a fully expanded boll — the pericarp remaining after 
the cotton has been picked out. 

Plate 2 sbows, at the top, the blossom closing up after 
the change from a white to a pink color; at the bottom, a 
fully expanded boll — the pericarp concealed, and the cot- 
ton ready for picking. 



CHAPTER n. 

HISTOKT OF COTTON. 

Cotton was tnown to the ancients. Herodotus, 450 
B. c, speaks of the trees of India bearing fleeces more 
delicate and beautiful than those of sheep, and says that 
the Indians used them for making cloth. 

From India cotton was introduced into Greece and 
Rome , and the cloth used as tents by soldiers. Caesar 
covered the Forum with it, and the Sacred Way from his 
own house to the Capitoline Hill. 

Pliny speaks of wool-bearing trees in Upper Egypt, 
bearing a fruit like a gourd, of the size of a quince, which, 
upon ripening and bursting, displayed a downy wool, from 
which costly fabrics were made resembling linen. 

At the beginning of the Christian era cotton had be- 
come an article of commerce, and the cotton fabrics of 
India were in great demand. 

Spain was the first of European countries to adopt the 
cotton culture. It was introduced there as early as the 
tenth century by the Moors. About the same time it was 
extended to Sicily, The Venetians engaged in it about 
the fourteenth century, and the Turks about the same time 
introduced it into Roumelia and Macedonia. 

The first notice of the English directing their attention 



HISTORY OF COTTON. 13 

to the manufacture of cotton is found in the " Treasury of 
Traffic" of Lewis Roberts, 1641, in which it is stated that 
the Manchester Company *' buy cotton wool in London 
that comes fi'om Cyprus and Smyrna, and at home worke 
the same and perfect it into fustians, vermillions, dimities, 
and other stuft'es." 

Li the early part of the eighteenth century the English 
received it from the East and West Indies. 

In the New World, the manufacture of cotton cloth ap- 
pears to have been well understood by the Mexicans and 
Peruvians, long before the discovery of their countries by 
Europeans. Columbus found the cotton plant growing 
wild in Hispaniola, and later explorers recognized it as far 
north as the country bordering the Meschachebe or Missis- 
sippi, and its tributaries. Cortes, on setting out from 
Trinidad, on the southern coast of Cuba, for his Mexican 
expedition, gathered it in abundance, to quilt the jackets 
of his soldiers, as a protection, after the practice of the 
natives, against the Indian arrows ; and when on the Mex- 
ican coast, among the rich presents received by him from 
Montezuma, were coverlets and robes of cotton, fine as silk, 
of rich and various dyes, interwoven with feather work that 
rivalled the delicacy of painting. 

The West India islands furnished to Great Britain, 
about the close of the last century, some forty thousand 
bales. The quality was the long staple. 

In Brazil the crop of the valuable long-staple cotton 
has proved much more important, and the export of cotton 
from this country, in the early part of the present century, 
often exceeded that of any other except the United States. 

In the United States cotton seed was first planted, as 
an experiment, in 1621. In the province of Carolina the 
growth of the cotton plant is noticed in a paper of the date 



14 HISTOKY OF COTTON. 

of 1666, preserved in Carroll's " Historical Collections of 
South Carolina." In 1736 the plant was known in gardens 
in lat. 39° N. on the eastern shore of Maryland; and about 
forty years afterwards it was cultivated in the county of 
Cape May, New Jersey. It was, however, very little known, 
except as a garden plant, until after the Revolutionary War. 

In 1748 seven bags of cotton wool were exported from 
Charleston, S. C, valued at £3 lis. 5d. a bag. 

In 1754 another small shipment was made. In 1770 
three bags were exported. In 1784 eight bags, shipped to 
England, were seized, on the ground that so much cotton 
could not be produced in the United States. 

The exports of the next six years were successively 
14 bags ; 6 ; 109 ; 389 ; 842 ; 81. 

In 1790 England received only one bag of cotton from 
the United States in 1,000 bags imported; in 1792, 1 in 
126; in 1795, 1 in 26; and in 1799, about one-ninth of 
the importation was from this country. 

From the beginning of the present century to the 
breaking out of the late civil war, there has been, with the 
exception of a few years of decline interspersed at vari- 
ous periods, a steady increase of bales from 100,000 to 
4,500,000. During the war there was, of course, a rapid 
decline, and the number of bales went down from four mill- 
ions and a half to a half million, the number of the first 
semi-decennial period of the century. 

This will be more fully exhibited in a separate chapter 
on Cotton Statistics. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 

The cotton zone of the world is an immense territory. 
Lying between the 36th parallel of north latitude and the 
36th of south latitude, it embraces in the Western hemi- 
sphere all the States of the South, including Tennessee and 
North Carolina, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, the 
States of South America as far as the mouth of the Rio 
de la Plata ; and in the Eastern hemisphere, the whole of 
Africa, Arabia, Pereia, India, China, East Indies, and 
nearly all of Australia. 

The cotton zone occupies more than one-half of the 
arable land surface of the globe; but it must not be sup- 
posed that all, or even the principal part of the land in 
this zone, is suitable for cultivation- The Great Desert of 
Africa, for instance, would make poor plantations; so would 
the sides of mountains, and so would other localities which 
are unfit by reason of an unsuitable soil. 

We mean, then, by this cotton zone, a broad belt of 
land, nearly 5,000 miles wide from north to south, and 
about 18,000 miles long from east to west, where the cli- 
mate and seasons are adapted to the cultivation of cotton. 

Now, as near the torrid zone we find intertropical 
fruits, so near tliis cotton zone we discover cotton growing 



16 THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WOELD. 

and cultivated to some extent ; but, so far as our observa- 
tions have extended in the last twenty years, the plant can- 
not be profitably cultivated north of 35^°. 

A correct view of the limits of this wide region may 
be obtained by an examination of the climatic chart and a 
close inspection of the isothermal lines. 

Isothermal lines are the lines of equal heat, extending 
around the globe. These lines do not coincide throughout 
with the parallels of latitude, but are always serpentine in 
their course. They have been determined by long-contin- 
ued observation with the theniiometer, and we present 
them to the view of the reader as the result of scientific 
labor performed through a long series of years. 

The outside figures on the margin of this map indicate 
the degrees of latitude ; the inside figures show the degree 
of temperature by Fahrenheit's thermometer. Latitude is 
indicated by degrees of distance; — isothermal lines are 
designated by degrees of heat, regardless of distance. 
Thus the true equator, or zero parallel, is a line passing 
from west to east without departing a hair's breadth from 
a direct course. It passes through the northern part of 
Brazil, S, A., thence across the Atlantic, and directly 
through the centre of Africa. The isothermal equator is 
a meandering line, which touches and crosses the true 
equator at difierent points. It passes entirely north of 
South America ; thence curving gently, it strikes the true 
equator in longitude 20° W. ; then curving northward, it 
passes through Guinea, Soudan, and Abyssinia, and pro 
ceeding eastward it makes its way through the southern 
part of Hindostan ; thence curving through the East In- 
dies, it crosses the true equator between Sumatra and 
Borneo. 

The cotton zone embraces all that portion of the earth 



I 



THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 17 

in which the isothermal lines range from 60" to 80° and 
upward. We have indicated the northern and southern 
limits by broad, black lines. The northern line is the 
isothemi of 60° north of the equator; the southern line is 
the isotherm of 60° south of the equator. 

Cotton can be raised to some profit, though not verj^ 
large, on these lines ; but we regard it as a waste of time 
and money to attempt its culture in any region where the 
isotherm falls below 60°. 

We here subjoin a few extracts from the reports of 
American consuls in various parts of the world on the sub- 
ject of the production of cotton. 

1st. Alexandria, Egypt. — There are three species of 
cotton cultivated in Egypt. 1. The native, of very in- 
ferior quality, used in domestic manufactures, but never 
exported. 2. The Mako or Jximel cotton, which consti- 
tutes the great bulk of Eg)'ptian, and is grown all through 
the Delta. It is a long-stapled cotton. 3. The American 
Sea Island, which has been cultivated in small quantities 
for the last fifteen years, but which has not had a great 
success. It will degenerate. 

The annual product of cotton in Egypt is about 
50,000,000 lbs. It is exported chiefly to Great Britain, 
France, and Austria. 

The soil and climate are adapted to the profitable cul- 
ture of cotton ; but the yield depends greatly on the rise 
in the Nile, as no rain falls except in December. The only 
fertilizer of the soil is the alluvium of the river. Tlie seeds 
are sown in April ; the plant begins to flower early in July, 
aTid continues flowering until January; and the crop is 
gathered in September and October. The average product 
is about 250 lbs. per acre. 

The cotton is very little injured by insects, the chief 



18 THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 

obstacles being the superior advantages of grain-growing, 
and the unskilled labor of tbe country, which in agricul- 
ture is performed exclusively by the Fellahs, a race similar 
to the serfs of Russia. The cotton is badly cultivated and 
slovenly handled. Manufactories are unprofitable. The 
mean annual temperature of Egypt is 70°. 

2d. Algiers. — The sea island, long-stapled, and Nankin 
species of cotton are cultivated in Algeria. The annual 
product is about 200,000 lbs. There are no manufactories. 
The entire crop is exported to Havre, where it is sold on 
account of the French Government.* Mean annual temper- 
ature, 64°. 

3d. Athens, Greece. — The cotton of Greece grows from 
two to five feet in height. It is sown annually. The cli- 
mate is well adapted to its growth, but the soil is not suf- 
ficiently rich. The short-stapled yields about 60 lbs. of 
fibre to the acre; the long-stapled, 300 lbs. It is badly 
cultivated. Mean annual temperature, 64°. 

4th. Bombay, British India. — The amount of cotton 
produced in the districts under the Bombay Government 
is about 250,000,000 lbs. annually, of which about 
63,000,000 lbs. is manufactured into coarse cloth, worn 
by the natives. The rest is exported- 

Cotton is ginned in India both by the saw-gin and an 
instrument called the " chm-ka," which is very simple in 
construction, resembling a roller and breaker, and turning 
out about 40 lbs. of clean cotton a day by the labor of two 
men. The gin is used by large speculators, and is pro- 
pelled by bullocks, turning out 500 lbs. of clean cotton a 
day. The quantity of fibre obtained from 100 lbs. of 
seed cotton is usually about 31 lbs. Some of the gins in 

* During the late war the increase in the culture of cotton was 
very great, and a much larger quantity than the above was exported. 



THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WOELD. 19 

use were made in England, but they are generally of Bom- 
bay manufacture. The ginning is done by speculators, 
who buy the cotton of the native growers at the market 
villages. It is then immediately packed, by means of 
screws, into bags or loose bales, containing 392 lbs. each. 
When these arrive at Bombay, they are put into the steam 
screw and hydraulic presses, and condensed to the uniform 
size of 4 feet 3 inches in length, 2 feet in width, and 18 
inches in thickness. 

The climate and soil are admirably adapted to the 
profitable gi'owth of cotton. The cotton-growing months 
embrace June and February. The mean temperature of 
these months is about 90°. The seeds are planted early in 
June. The plants are in flower from the middle of July 
to the 10th of August. The cotton is picked in March. 
About 105 lbs. of clean and ginned cotton is the average 
product per acre. No insects affect the plant, but the 
political and social condition of the people has operated 
and will continue to operate to the prejudice of the cotton 
growth and trade, as long as the country is under the gov- 
ernment of the East India Company. 

5th. Bordeaux, France. — Many experiments have been 
made in this and the adjoining departments of France 
within the last fifteen years in the culture of cotton upon 
different varieties from India, Algeria, and America ; but 
every attempt has proved an entire failure. The reader 
will discover, by a glance ^t the chart, that France is en- 
tirely north of the cotton zone. 

6tli. Calcutta, British India. — The cotton plant is in- 
digenous in India, and has been cultivated by the inhab- 
itants throughout the whole length and breadth of these 
extensive territories from a period anterior to historical 
record. The annual product of British India is 1,000,- 



20 THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WOELD. 

000,000 lbs. Of this amount 750,000,000 lbs. is used by 
the natives, the number of whom is 150,000,000. The 
remaining 250,000,000 lbs. is exported. This quantity 
would mate 500,000 bales, American size. 

The thermometer at Calcutta ranges from 71° mean in 
January to 93° mean in May. 

The cotton cultivation extends from the extremity of 
the peninsula of Hindostan to the great Himalaya range. 
A longer drought than usual kills the cotton-plant ; too 
much rain rots it ; and if a shower falls at the season of 
harvest, insects attack the ripe pods, and the dampness dis- 
colors the fibre. 

7th. Sydney, Australia. — The cotton plant is here a 
perennial, the frost, except in unusually severe wuaters, not 
being sufficient to destroy it. Cotton has been picked 
irom the same stalk five years in succession, the fourth 
year producing the largest crop ; a pound of clean cotton 
being then, in some instances, obtained from a single plant. 
The ordinary yield is a bale of 800 lbs. of clean cotton 
per acre. The seeds are planted in the latter part of Sep- 
tember and the early part of October ; the plants are in 
flower in December ; picking commences in February and 
continues until June, The soil and climate and all other 
physical causes are favorable to the profitable growth of 
this crop. Insects are not injurious. Nature seems to 
have designed this portion of the world for a cotton field 
of the most gigantic dimensions. The thermometer, dur- 
ing the cotton months, ranges from 60° to 100°. 

8th. Spezzia, Italy. — During the occupation of Italy by 
the French under the first Napoleon, it was one of his pro- 
jects to introduce the cultivation of the cotton plant ; but 
it failed generally throughout Northern Italy, and now is 
not known farther north than in some of the Papal States. 



THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WOKLD. 21 

9th. San Juan de los Eemedios, Island of Cuba. — The 
lands of this section of this island are equal to the best on 
Red River or the Mississippi for the growth of cotton, and 
the plant stands for years, but the cultivation of it is un- 
knovrn. 

10th. Hio de Janeiro, Brazil, — All kinds of cotton can 
be cultivated to advantage in the province of Rio de 
Janeiro, whether annual or perennial varieties ; but the 
small quantity that is produced is almost exclusively tree- 
Qotton. The general character of the fibre is long, strong, 
and coarse. The quantity manufactured here does not 
probably amount to 500,000 lbs. a year. Good ginned 
cotton is nearly all imported from Pernambuco, Bahia, and 
other northern ports of this empire. It is ginned mostly 
by roller-gins. A few saw-gins from the United States are 
in use. It is calculated that one negro can cultivate 2,000 
hills of cotton, producing about VOO lbs. when ginned. 

The soil and climate are finely adapted to the growth 
of cotton. The thermometer ranges from about 60° to 
95° F. the whole year round, and cotton bears more or less 
all the time. The planting takes place in November. The 
plants flower mostly in June, but they open freely almost 
all the year. The bulk of the hai*vest is in September and 
October, but cotton is picked nearly all the year. No 
cause, physical, political, or social, except want of energy 
and enterprise, operates injuriously to the cultivation of 
cotton in this empire. 

11th. Paramaribo, Butch Guiana. — The herbaceous 
cotton, such as is grown in the United States, is regarded 
by the niost approved authorities as the variety of cotton 
best adapted to cultivation in Dutch Guiana. It is here 
perennial, afibrding a crop every six months, and con- 
tinuing to yield until four or five years old. The sea 



22 THE COTTON ZONE CF THE WOKLD. 

island cotton of the United States soon degenerates. 
The average annual crop is 2,000,000 lbs., one-half of 
which is usually exported. All the land on the sea- 
shore is well adapted to the profitable gro-wth of cotton. 
Tlie usual yield to the acre is from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. 
Planting takes place in April and May, flowering in July 
and August, picking from September to January. The 
range of the thermometer is quite limited, being from 75° 
to 85°. The temperature of all the months is quite uni- 
form. Severe droughts and heavy, long-continued rains, 
together with a white insect, are disadvantages to the cul- 
ture ; but could scientific culture be applied, with a compe- 
tency of laborers, the yield per acre would average 1,000 
lbs. seed cotton. 

12th. La Paz, Lower Calif orma. — ^When this country 
was discovered, a cotton tree was found growing wild, 
in great numbers, over the entire land, and until about 
twenty years ago the inhabitants manufactured tiiread and 
many other articles for home consumption from the fibre it 
produced ; but the Mexican Government then prohibited its 
manufacture by the people, for the sake of the duties which 
might be obtained on imported articles. If any attention 
were given to collecting cotton from these trees, many 
millions of pounds could be gathered every year ; and, by 
trimming the tree and watering it during the dry season, 
the quality of the fibre might be much improved. 

The sea island cotton of the United States can be 
grown to great advantage here, and the lands of this terri- 
tory are unsurpassed for producing sugar, rice, coffee, and 
grapes. Although the latitude of La Paz is only 24° N., 
the climate is so happily tempered by sea breezes, that 
labor can be performed by any race of men without incon- 
venience or detriment to health. 



THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 23 

13th. Buenos Ayres and Argentine Confederation. — 
Tins entire region lies between 22° and 40° south latitude. 
The soil, in many places, is well adapted to the culture of 
cotton, but the climate is not altogether suitable. There 
is not a suflScient intensity either of heat or cold, continu- 
ing the requisite length of season, to urge the rapid growth 
and maturity of the stalk, and to check vegetation in the 
winter. 

A large proportion of the produce of the Confederation 
has hitherto passed through the city of Buenos Ayres, and 
the full amount has never exceeded 50,000 lbs. per annum. 
One-half of the quantity produced is exported, and the 
other half consumed in the manufacture of rude domestic 
goods for family use. 

The cultivation is very rude. The wooden plough, which 
merely scratches the earth, is extensively used, and the hoe 
is applied so sparingly as to produce but little beneficial 
result. 

The cotton is prepared on a rude roller-gin by foot or 
hand. It is packed by the same means m bags, without 
being pressed. Twenty-five lbs. of lint cotton are obtained 
from 100 lbs. of seed cotton. 

Neither the physical nor the political condition of the 
country is adapted to agricultural pursuits. The peasantry 
of the country are indolent, except in such of their voca- 
tions as may be followed on horseback ; and the peons are 
no better. 

The "langosta," or locust, appears in the State of 
La Plata about once in five years, but not in all regions 
at the same time. These insects destroy every vestige of 
verdure wherever they alight, and their number is greater 
than language can express. They are more injurious in 
the main than the cotton caterpillar in our Southern States. 



24 THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 

The Banda Oriental, on the opposite side of the Rio 
de la Plata, is represented to be much better suited to the 
culture of cotton, both by soil and climate, than most of 
the other regions irrigated by its waters. , 



CHAPTEK lY. 

THE COTTON STATES OF THE SOUTH. 

The cotton States, par excellence, are South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ar- 
kansas. Tlie southern half of North Carolina and Tennes- 
see produces good cotton ; but neither of these States is 
included by our best planters in the list of cotton States. 
As, however, they both produce and manufacture largely, 
we think they are entitled to be included in the cotton 
zone of the world, if not in the first-class cotton States of 
the South. 

The area of this entire region is about 650,000 square 
miles, containing over 400,000,000 acres, greater than 
the area of Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and 
some of the Geim^n States, put together. 

Let it be populated as densely as England, it is capa- 
ble of sustaining 160,000,000 people. Populated like 
France, it would hold about 100,000,000. Populated as 
we think it should be, it will sustain, with ease and com- 
fort, about 30,000,000. 

No country on the face of the earth presents greater 
inducements to the laborer, the manufacturer, or the capi- 
talist. Fifty years ago three-fourths of it was a wilderness. 
A traveller through the South, in the summer of 1860, 
might have said with propriety, " The wilderness shall 
2 



26 GEOLOGICAL FEATTJEES. 

blossom like the rose." The millions of cotton blooms in 
myriads of fields would have suggested the passage. 

As this book is intended partly for those who want in- 
formation on all matters of interest to the immigrant, we 
propose a brief sketch of the cotton States, exhibiting the 
varied resources of the country, and pointing out with 
candor the facilities which the planter will enjoy, and the 
difficulties which he must expect to encounter. 

Man cannot live by cotton alone. He must have food 
and timber and iron, coal, salt, and the fruits of vines, 
trees, and shrubs. , Do the cotton States supply all these 
wants ? This question we propose to answer. 

We will distribute the subject under the following 
heads : 

Section 1. Geological Features, including Mineral Produc- 
tions. 

2. Hydrography. 

3. Climatology. 

4. Rain Fall, Dews, and Frosts. 
6. Productions of the Forest — Flora of the South. 
6. Fauna of the South. 
1. Soil of the Cotton States. 

8. Agricultural Statistics. 

9. Principal Diseases. 

SECT. I.— GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 

The southern portion of the Gulf States, including 
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, is 
mcluded by geologists in the alluvium and post-pliocene 
formations, and the eastern parts of North Carolina, South 
Carolina, and Georgia, along the Atlantic slope, belong to 
the same formation. 



GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 27 

The avcracje widtli of these deposits is about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles. Proceeding nortlnvard from the 
Gulf toward the State of Tennessee, we find, underlying 
these formations, the eocene and cretaceous in Mississippi; 
the eocene, cretaceous, carboniferous, and upper Silurian 
and granite series in Alabama ; the eocene, cretaceous, 
carhoniferous, and granite series in Georgia ; the eocene, 
cretaceous, and granite series in South Carolina. Pro- 
ceeding from east to west in North Carolina, we find the 
allnvium, post-pliocene, miocenc, eocene, cretaceous, granite 
series, and, near the junction with Tennessee, the lower 
Silurian rocks. 

The State of Tennessee is more complicated in its ge- 
ology than any other. Beginning at the western boundary, 
we find, at the low places on the Mississippi river, the 
alluvium and post-pliocene extending from the northern 
to the southern part of the State. Proceeding eastward, 
we discover the eocene, underlaid successively hy the Cre- 
taceous, the Devonian, tlie upper Silurian, and lower Si- 
lurian, till we reach the Cumberland mountains, where the 
last-mentioned fonnation is overlaid by the carboniferous 
group, including the coal itself. This coal is a part of the 
great Appalachian coal field, which extends in a south- 
western direction into northeastern Alabama. 

Texas and Arkausas present substantially the same var 
riety as Alabama. 

MINERAL PRODUCTIONS OF THESE STATES. 

The alluvium, post-pliocene, and cretaceous formations 
nowhere produce any massive or hea^'y minerals. The 
other formations bear the usual variety of minerals useful 
in arts and afrriculture. 



28 HTDKOGKAPHY. 

North Carolina has gold, iron, marble, limestone, lead, 
marl, and salt. 

Tennessee has compact limestone, marbles in great va- 
riety, saltpetre, Epsom salts, alum, fine quartzose sand for 
glass, hydraulic limestone, millstone grit, roofing slate, 
iron, zinc, lead, copper, coal in abundance, and gold and 
silver in small quantities. Marl is also found in the west- 
ern part of the State in the cretaceous system. 

South Carolina has marl, salt, metamorphic marble, gold. 

Georgia and Alabama have marl, salt, limestone, mar- 
ble, coal, gold, lead, and quartzose sand. 

Florida has no massive minerals, but has an abundance 
of clay, marl, and fine sand for glass. The same remark 
is applicable to Mississippi and Louisiana. There is no 
building limestone in any one of these three States, and 
the soft ferruginous sandstone is unfit for architectural pur- 
poses. Some salt has been found in Florida, and a con- 
siderable mine of it in Louisiana. 

Texas has marl, salt, coal, lead, saltpetre, and limestone. 

Arkansas has marl, salt, saltpetre, lead, silver, lime- 
stone and gold-bearing rocks, in which some gold has been 
found, roofing slate, and whetstone. 

SECT. II.— HYDROGRAPHY. 

We recognize in this region four water slopes : 1. The 
Texas slope ; 2. The Mississippi slope ; 3. The eastern 
Gulf slope ; 4. The Atlantic slope. 

THE TEXAS SLOPE. 

Tlie largest rivers of this system are the Rio Grande, 
Nueces, San Antonio, Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, 
Trinity, Neches, and Sabine. 



HTDEOGEAPHY. 29 

All of these streams run separately into the western 
part of the Gulf of Mexico. Most of them are navigable, 
and small steamers are generally able to ascend to a dis- 
tance of from fifty to five hundred miles. 

The Mississippi slope embraces all the country watered 
by streams which flow into the Mississippi river, and in- 
cludes the States of Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
the western part of Tennessee. 

The principal streams are the Mississippi, the White, 
Arkansas, and Red rivers on the west of the " Father of 
AVaters," and the Yazoo and Big Black on the east. We 
may also include the Pearl and Pascagoula, which, running 
southward through the State of Mississippi, empty into 
the Guh: 

The eastern Gulf slope embraces all of Alabama except 
the northern part through which the Tennessee river runs, 
all of Florida except that lying immediately on the At- 
lantic, and western Georgia. 

The principal streams are the Tombigbee, Alabama, 
Appalachicola, and Suwan-ee. 

These streams all flow in a southerly direction, and 
empty into the Gulf of Mexico between longitude 83° and 
88° west fi'om Greenwich. 

The Atlantic slope embraces eastern Georgia, eastern 
Florida, all of South Carolina, and all of North Carolina 
except that part which lies between the Blue Ridge and 
the Alleghany mountains. 

The principal streams are the St. Johns, Altamaha, 
Ogeechee, Savannah, Edisto, Santee, Great Pedee, Cape 
Fear, Neuse, Tar, and Roanoke. 

On all these streams and their unnumbered tributaries 
there are valley lands of surpassing richness and fertility. 



30 CLIMATOLOGY. 

and the Mil and table lands adjoining them are quite pro- 
ductive. 

SECT. III.— CLIMATOLOGY. 

The cotton States of the South are situated mostly in 
the zone of climate designated warm. The peninsula of 
Florida, a small part of Louisiana and of Texas, are includ- 
ed in the hot zone. The warm zone embraces the coun- 
try between the isothermal lines of V0° and 60°. The 
mean annual temperature of five stations near the Atlantic 
coast is 65°, and of ten stations in the interior 63°. The 
climate of the interior is warmer in summer and colder in 
winter than that of the coast. 

In comparing the climates of the cotton regions with 
those of other countries, it is necessary to remember how 
much the best cotton districts are influenced by the Atlan- 
tic or the Mexican Gulf. The climate west of the Alle- 
ghany mountains is more mild than that under the same 
parallels in the Atlantic States, even to the extent of three 
degrees of latitude. 

This has been explained as caused by the warm air of 
the Gulf of Mexico being driven up the basin of the Mis- 
sissippi and that of the Ohio. The direction of the valley 
north and south no doubt favors the course of the south- 
ern winds ; while the regions of the Atlantic slopes, being 
transverse, oppose any such transmission. The majority 
of the places of which the mean temperatures have been 
adduced are on the sea-coast, and necessarily participate in 
the peculiarities of an insular climate ; that is, of seasons 
moderately contrasted. Still the diiference between the 
hottest and the coldest month of the year is much greater 
than at Vera Cruz — that is, than 12° ; being, at Mobile, 
Galveston, and New Orleans, 2'7°.23, 29°.10, and 29°.96 



CLIMATOLOGY. 31 

respectively. But in the interior, at Natcliez and Vicks- 
burg, the differences are greater, being 32°.69 and 31°. 57. 
In the Atlantic districts the differences are nearly as great 
as those on the south coast, being 31°. 7 3 at Savannah 
and 31°.09 at Charleston ; while in the interior the dif- 
ferences are much greater, being 36°.02 at Augusta and 
3 8°. 10 at Columbia. 

Louisiana, — Che climate of most parts of this State is 
somewhat variable. From the sea to Point Coupee, it 
seldom snows or freezes, except in the months of December 
and January, and then when the wind is from the north or 
northwest. There is less heat and more moisture than in 
any similar latitudes on the eastern continent, and the cli- 
mate is generally very mild. In winter the thermometer 
seldom falls more than 2° below the freezing-point. Snow 
in New Orleans is a great curiosity. 

Mississippi. — Near the Gulf of Mexico the climate re- 
sembles that of the lower parts of Louisiana. The winter 
is mild, the summer warai, but tempered by the constant 
prevalence of the breeze from the Gulf, together with the 
elevation of the surface. At Natchez, however, the ther- 
mometer in winter sometimes stands as low as 10° F. In 
the northern part of the State the winters are quite cold, 
but only by spells, ten days of cold weather being regarded 
as a long period. Throughout the State generally, the 
warm season commences about the middle of April, and 
continues until the middle of October. Mild weather is 
often protracted through the winter, and we have often 
seen, in and about the capital of the State, roses blooming 
in November. 



32 CLIMATOLOGY. 

Alabama. — In the low and southern parts of this State 
the heat is very great. The chmate of the inland and up- 
per parts may be considered remarkably mild. Frost com- 
mences generally in October, and continues usually to the 
latter part of April. During the summer there is usually a 
prevalence of westerly winds. Those from the southeast 
are regarded as the sure harbingers of rain. At Mobile, 
from nine in the morning till evening, the pleasant and 
salutary effects of the sea breeze are felt. The rich verdure 
of the earth, with the copious dews that fall during the 
night, and the elevation of the soil, which in the upland 
parts is from six hundred to one thousand feet above the 
sea, produce a beneficial effect upon the climate. The 
northern part of the State is quite similar in its climate to 
that of Mississippi. 

Georgia. — The climate of Georgia resembles that of 
Alabama. The winter is the most pleasant season of the 
year, when the thermometer usually ranges from 40° to 
66°, though sometimes a considerable degree of cold pre- 
vails. In the middle and southern regions snow is uncom- 
mon, but in the northern part it sometimes falls to the 
depth of five or six inches. The spring is usually rainy, 
and the summer is variable, with a temperature ranging 
from 75° to 95°. The atmosphere feels enlivening, being 
refreshed by gentle breezes from the sea-shore. About the 
20th of July the summer rains set in, often accompanied 
with storms of thunder and severe winds, and, though not 
tropical in their violence, are often so heavy as to deluge 
the fields. Similar rains and storms are common through- 
out the Southern States. About the end of July or be- 
ginning of August the wind usually changes its direction 
from southeast to southwest. The autumn is usually fine 



CLIMATOLOGY. 33 

and clear, and frosts rarely come before the end of October. 
The inhabitants of the hilly tracts, two hundred miles from 
the coast, enjoy an agreeable climate, which is favorable to 
health. The cotton in these hill regions, being less exposed, 
is allowed to hang longer, so as to become perfectly ma- 
ture. White labor, well directed, will doubtless be ade- 
quate to the production of crops two hundred miles from 
the coast ; but in the more southern regions negro labor is, 
as a general thing, more profitable. 

South Carolina. — Tlie winter of the lower parts of this 
State is mild, and snow seldom falls near the sea. The 
cold weather terminates in March, when snow and heavy 
rains usually occur. April and May are commonly dry 
months. In the low country the heat of summer is in- 
tense, but the climate is liable to sudden changes of tem- 
perature, when it is damp with fogs and heavy dews. 
June, July, and August are usually the wettest months, and 
the rains consist of heavy bursts and frequent showers. 
November is usually fine, even after the coming of frosts, 
which sometimes do not occur until December. In the 
upper country fi'ost appears earlier and continues later ; but 
the weather is not so variable. In winter the cold is con- 
siderable, but does not last very long. The climate of the 
Santee hills, which are situated eighty or ninety miles 
fi-om the coast, is similar in character. 

Florida. — The climate of Florida has long been ex- 
tolled as the most genial and equable on this continent, 
and its ftime in that respect formerly attracted to the State 
invalids from all parts of the country. The average degree 
of temperature is about 73° F., and in no part of the State 
does the ditFerence between summer and winter exceed 
2* 



34 CLIMATOLOGY. 

25°, while at the extremity of the peninsula the variation 
is not greater than 11°. That portion of the State is 
clothed in perpetual verdure, and the summer is only dis- 
tinguished by the frequency of its showers. In many 
respects the climate of Florida resembles that of Cuba, but 
the State generally enjoys the advantage of immunity from 
the malarial diseases which frequently prevail in that island. 
The warmth and humidity of the climate of Florida are 
the causes of the luxuriant vegetation which distinguishes 
it from all the other States. 

Texas. — The climate of Texas is more healthy than 
that of Louisiana or any of the Gulf States, The weather 
is dry from March to October, though sufficient rain usu- 
ally falls to make good crops. The winters are warm and 
mild on the coast, and for some distance inland snow is 
seldom seen, except on the higher table-lands or moun- 
tains. From April to September, the thermometer, near 
the coast, usually ranges from 63° to 100°. The greatest 
heats, however, are tempered by strong and constant 
breezes, which begin to blow soon after the rising of the 
sun, and continue until past noon. The nights throughout 
the middle region are cool and refreshing during the year. 

Arkansas. — The climate of Arkansas, from its southern 
extremity to the 35th parallel, is similar to that of Missis- 
sippi in the same degrees of latitude. The climate of the 
northern part of the State is similar to that of Tennessee. 

Tennessee. — The climate of Tennessee is usually de- 
scribed as temperate, salubrious, and invigorating — neither 
so warm as that of the Gulf States, nor so cold as that of 
the northern regions. We have skated ou her rivers in 



EAIN FALL, DEWS, AJSTD FEOSTS. 



35 



winter, and sweated profusely in her cotton fields in sum- 
mer. The average mean temperature of the year is 
about 62°. 

North Carolina, — The climate of this State is similar 
to that of Tennessee, though, from its position east of the 
Alleghany mountains, it is not quite so temperate. 

SECT. IV.— RAIN FALL, DEWS, AND FROSTS. 

The entire territory of the Southern States belongs to 
the region of frequent rains ; and, although there are fre- 
quent droughts, as in all other parts of the United States, 
the rain is as equally distributed through the different 
seasons, and falls in as great quantity, as in any other region 
of the globe lying in the warm zone. 

The following table shows the comparative fall of rain 
in the Northern and Southern Atlantic States : 

FALL OF KAIN IN INCHES. 



STATIONS. 


Spring. 


Summer. 


Autumn. 


Winter. 


Yenr. 


Northern Atlantic Slope. 

Eastport 

Providence (average 23 years).. 

Albany (average 20 years) 

New York 

Philadelphia (average 28 years). 


8.88 
11.55 

iV.is 

10.45 

9.89 

5.90 
12.86 
11.29 
15.08 


10*5 
1L33 

iV.oi 

10.53 

1J.45 

liiSi 
18.69 
17 28 
19.14 


9.85 

ibiso 

ia52 
10.15 

10.06 

9.56 
18.71 

9.62 
12.48 


10.61 

9.63 

9.3i 
10.07 

7.52 

5.80 
11.72 
12.71 
15.40 


89.89 

89.71 

40. 

42.23 

42.33 

42. 




41.20 


Southern Atlantic Slope and Gulf 

States. 


44.92 


Savannah (averugo 9 years) 


49.43 
81.80 




56.98 




50.90 


Baton Rouge 


62.10 



We have no regular wet and dry seasons, no period- 



36 FLOKA. OF THE SOUTH, 

ical rains, as on the Pacific slope, but they are irregularly- 
distributed throughout all the seasons of the year. 

Detos. — In the dry periods of summer and autumn a 
compensation for the want of rain is made by the copious 
dews. During the day the earth receives an immense amount 
of heat from the sun. At sunset it begins the work of ra- 
diation, and carries it on rapidly during the night until it 
becomes a vast condenser, receiving, in literal showers, 
moisture from the atmosphere which refreshes all vegeta- 
tion. The cotton fields rejoice, and the heart of the 
planter is gladdened. 

Frosts. — The season of frosts and freezing weather, in 
the larger part of the cotton region, begins about the mid- 
dle of October, and terminates about the middle of March. 
Our agricultural period embraces seven months, but it is 
deemed prudent to defer the planting of cotton until about 
the middle of April, allowing full time for the earth to be- 
come thoroughly warm, and giving six months for the plant- 
ing, cultivation, and maturing of the crop. 

Cotton is a plant of the sun, and requires his genial 
rays for half the year. It is for this reason that we con- 
fidently predict that all experiments north of the 36th 
parallel of latitude — isothermal of 60° — will fail. 

We advise Illinois farmers to let cotton alone, and to 
give their attention to stock and grain. 

SECT, v.— PRODUCTIONS OF THE FOREST— FLORA OF 
THE SOUTH. 

We are indebted to Wailes's " Eeport on the Agriculture 
and Geology of Mississippi " for the following catalogue of 
trees, shrubs, herbs, and flowers. The flora of the other 
States does not difier materially from that of Mississippi. 



FLORA OF THE SOUTH. 
I, FOREST TREES. 



37 



POPrLAR NAME. 

Apple, crab 
Ash, blue 

" white 
Beech, 
Barberry, 
Birch, 
Bay, sweet 
Bayberry, 
Box elder. 
Buckeye, dwarf 

Oandleberry, 

Cherry, 

Cucumber tree. 

Chestnut, 

Chinquepin, 

Cottonwood, 

Cypress, 

Cedar, 

Dogwood, 

" swamp 

n a 

Elm, red 

" slippery 

" cork-bark 
Elder, 
Gum, sweet 

" black 
Haw, black 

" possum 
Hackberry, 
Hickory, 
Hazel, 
Hazel, witch 



SCIENTinO KAIO. 

Pyrus coronaria. 
Fraxinus quadrangulata. 

" acuminata. 
Fagus Americana. 
Berberis vulgaris. 
Betula populifoli^. 
Magnolia glauca. 
Myrica cerifera. 
Acer ncgundo. 
^sculus pavia. 

" spicata. 
Myrica cerifera. 
Cerasus Virginiana. 
Magnolia auriculata. 
Castanea vesca. 

" pumila. 
Populus deltoides. 
Cupressus disticha. 
Juniperus Vii'giniana. 
Cornus florida. 
" sericea. 
Oephalanthus occidentalis. 
Ulmus Americana. 
" fulva. 
" raceraosa. 
Sambucus Canadensis. 
Liquidambar styraciflua. 
Nyssa multiflora. 
Viburnum prunifolium. 

" nudum. 

Celtis occidentalis. 
Carya tomentosa. 
Corylus Americana. 
Hamamelis Yirginica. 



38 



FLOEA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPTTLAB NAMB. 


SOIENimO NAMB. 


Holly, 


n^x opaca. 


Hawthorn, 


Cratsegus crus-galU. 


u 


" punctata. 


" parsley-leaved 


" apiifolia. 


Hornbeam, 


Oarpinus Americana. 


Honeysuckle, 


Azalea rubra. 


" , white 


" viscosa. 


Huckleberry, 


Vaccinium corymbosum. 


" swamp 


" vacUlans. 


Hydrangea, 


Hydi'angea arborescens. 


Hercules' club. 


Aralia spinosa. 


Ironwood, 


Ostrya Virginica. 


Lauria mundi, 


Cerasus Carolinensis. 


Laurel, 


Cerasus lauro. 


" swamp 


Kalmia glauca. 


Linn, 


Tilia Americana. 


Leatherwood, 


Dirca palustris. 


Locust, 


Eobinia pseud-acacia. 


Locust, honey 


Gleditschia triacanthos. 


(( u 


" brachyloba. 


Magnolia, 


Magnolia grandiflora. 


(( 


" auriculata. 


Maple, sugar 


Acer saccliarinum. 


" red 


" rubrum. 


" silver-leaved 


" dasycarpum. 


" swamp 


" negundo. 


Mulberry, 


Moras rubra. 


Myrtle, 


Myrica inodorata. 


" wax 


" cerifera. 


Oak, live 


Quercus virens. 


" red 


" rubra. 


" black 


" tinctoria. 


" blackjack 


*' nigra. 


" white 


» alba. 


" Spanish 


" falcata. 


" post 


" obtusiloba. 



FLOKA OF THE SOUTH. 



39 



POPITLAE NAilK. 


SdENTDTO NAMB. 


Oak, cliestnut 


Quereus castanea. 


" chinquepin 


" prinoides. 


" overcup 


*' macrocarpa. 


" swamp 


" aquatica. 


" willow 


" phellos. 


" pia 


" palustris. 


Osage orange, 


Madura aurantiaca. 


Pride of Barbadoes, 


Amorpba fruticosa. 


Pecan, 


Carya oliva3formis. 


Pecan, bitter 


Hicorea Texan a. 


Pig-nut, 


Carya amara. 


Plum, 


Prunus Americana. 


a 


" Chickasaw. 


" blue 


" ? 


" red 


» 2 


(( u 


? 


Prickly ash, 


Xanthoxylum tricarpum 


Pawpaw, 


Uvaria triloba. 


Pine, long-leaf 


Ptnus palustris. 


" short-leaf 


" rigida. 


" swamp 


" mitis. 


" pitch 


" tasda. 


Poplar, 


Liriodendron tulipifera. 


Persimmon, 


Diospyros Virginiana. 


Redbud, Jitdas-tree, 


Cercis Canadensis. 


Sycamore, 


Platanus occidentalis. 


Sumac, 


Rhus glabra. 


" dwarf 


" typhina. 


Strawberry tree, 


Euonymus Americanu8. 


Swamp spice, 


Ilex prinoides. 


" snow-ball, 


Hydrangea quercifolia. 


Sassafi'as, 


Laurus sassafras. 


Shellbark, 


Carya alba. 


Starry annis, 


Kalmia glauca. 


Spanish mulberry, 


Callicarpa Americana. 


Service-tree, 


Aronia arbutifoUa. 



40 



FLOEA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPULAE NAME. 


BCrENTmO NAME. 


Stewartia, 


Stewartia malacodendron. 


Spice wood, 


Laurus benzoin. 


Tupelo, 


Nyssa villosa. 


" large-fniited 


" tomentosa. 


Toothache -tree, 


Xanthoxylum clava Herculis. 


Umbrella tree, 


Magnolia tripetala. 


Walnut, black 


Juglans nigra. 


WUlow, 


Salix nigra. 


II. PAEASITES, RUNNEES, AND CLIMBEEa 


Blackberry, 


Eubus villosa. 


" swamp 


" hispidus. 


Creeper, 


Bignonia radicans. 


Cross vine, 


" crucigera. 


Cornucopia, 


Glycine fructescens ? 


Coral vine. 


Lycium Europseum ? 


Dewberry, 


Eubus Canadensis. 


Green moss. 


Tillandsia? 


Jasmine, yellow 


Gelsemium nitidum. 


Mistletoe, 


Viscum verticillatum. 


Poison oak. 


Rhus toxicodeudi'on. 


Passion flower, 


Passiflora incarnata. 


Spanish moss, 


Tillandsia usneoides. 


Supplejack, 


Zizyphus volubUis. 


Strawberry, 


Fragaria Yirgiuiana. 


Sensitive brier. 


Mimosa instia. 


Sarsaparilla vine. 


Schizandra coccinea. 


Tie vine. Morning-glory^ 


Convolvulus arvensis. 


WUd potato vine, 


" panduratus. 


"Woodbine, red 


Lonicera sempervirens. 


" yellow 


" flava. 


III. UNDEEGEOWTH PEEENNIALS. 


Bear grass, 


Yucca fllamentosa. 


Cane, 


Arundo gigantea. 



FLOKA OF THE SOUTH. 



41 



POPITLAR NAMH, 


SCIENTiriO NAMU. 


China brier, 


Smilax China. 


Fern, 




? 

Smilax rotundifoUa. 


Green brier, 


(( u 


" spinulosa. 


Palmetto, fan 


Sabal minor. 


Prickly pear, 


Opuntia vulgaris. 


Reed, 


Arundo tecta. 


IV. NOXIOUS WEEDS 


, HURTFUL TO PLANTATIONS. 


Burdock, 


Lappago major. 


Beggarsticks, 


Bidens connata. 


Cocklebur, 


Xanthium strumarium. 


Dock, 


Rumex obtusifolia. 


Dog fennel. 


Anthemis cotula. 


Jamestown weed. 


Datura stramonium. 


Sneeze weed, 


Helenium autumnale. 


Stinging nettle, 


Urtica urens. 


Spanish needles, 


Bidens bipinnata. 


Smart weed. 


Polygonum articulatum. 


Thistle, 


Cirsium lanceolatum. 


(( 


" pumUum. 


Wild coffee weed, 


Cassia occidentalis. 


" chamomile, 


Anthemis arvensis. 


V. vrruB, OR grape. 


Muscadine, 


Yitis rotundifolia. 


Choke grape, 


" cordifolia. 


Small sour grape. 


U 9 




VI. PifANTS, USEFUL, ! 


MEDICINAL, AND ORNAMENTA] 


Aster, 


Aster radula. 


Boneset, 


Eupatorium perfoliatum. 


Columbo, 


Frasera WalterL 



42 



FLORA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPrLAE NAME. 

Chickweed, 
Cotton rose, 
Calamus, 
Cat's-tail, 
Centaury plant, 
Ealse foxglove. 
Ginger, wild 
Green dragon. 
Gall of the earth, 
Ground ivy, 
Horsemint, 
Hoarhound, 
Heartsease, 
Indian turnip, 
Jerusalem oak, 

" cherry, 
Lucern, 
Lambsquarter, 
Lobelia, 
Milk-weed, 
May apple, 
Monoca nut^ 
Mallow, 
Mullein, 
Pleurisy root. 
Pink-root, 
Puccoon, Bloodroot^ 
Purslane, 
Poke-weed, 
Pine-sap, 
Pickerel-weed, 
Pansy, 
Peppermint, 
Partridge pea, 
Kattlesnake master. 
Rush, 



SCIENTTFIO NAME. 

Stellaria media. 
Hibiscus grandiflorus. 
Acorns calamus. 
Typha latifolia. 
Sabbatia angularis. 
Gerardia flava. 
Asarum Canadense. 
Arissema dracontium. 
Nabalus Fraseri. 
Epigsea repens. 
Monarda fistulosa. 
Marrubium vulgare. 
Viola tricolor. 
ArisEema triphyllum. 
Ambrina anthelmintica. 
Physalis viscosa. 
Medicago sativa. 
Chenopodium album. 
Lobelia cardinalis. 
Acerates viridiflora. 
Podophyllum peltatuni. 
Nelumbium speciosum. 
Hibiscus militaris. 
Verbascum thapsus. 
Asclepias tuberosa. 
Spigelia Marylandica. 
Sanguinaria Canadensis. 
Portulaca oleracea. 
Phytolacca decandra. 
Monotropa hypopitys. 
Pontedera cordata. 
Viola tricolor. "* 
Mentha piperita. 
Lathyrus variosus. 
Hieracium veuosum. 
Equisetum hyemale. 



FLORA OF THE SOTJTH. 



43 



POPITLAE NAME. 

Silk- weed, 

a u 

Sorrel, 
Senna, wild 
Pepper-grass, 
Specularia, 
Yiolet, 

White water-lily, 
White clover, 
Wild indigo, 

" sensitive plant, 

" parsnip, 
Water plantain. 
Wild senna, 
Vinnella, 
Viburnum, 
Yellow pond-lily. 
Vervain, 
Trailing arbutus, 
Bear's-foot, 



BCTENTIFIO NAMB. 

Asclepias purpurascens. 

" variegata. 
Oxalis stricta. 
Cassia Marylandica. 
Lepidiuin campestre. 
Specularia perfoliata. 
Viola rotundifolia. 
Nymphsea odorata. 
Tritblium repens. 
Baptisia tinctoria. 
Cassia nictitans. 
Pastinaca sativa. 
Alisma plantago. 
Cassia Marylandica. 
Cacalia suaveolens. 
Verbena spuria. 
Nuphar advena. 
Verbena spuria. 
Epiggea repens. 
Helleborus foetidus. 



Remarks. — Of our timber and timber trees much of 
interest might be said, did our space admit of it. 

The cypress, for many purposes of building, stands un- 
rivalled. I have no means of estimating the value of the 
trade in this timber, but it is immense. 

There is scarcely a town or village on the Mississippi 
or its tributaries, within the limits of the State, in which 
there is not one or more steam-mills busily employed in 
sawing this timber. Add to these the numerous mills 
similarly employed on plantations, and take into view the 
logs rafted to New Orleans, and along the river coast be- 
low our borders, and it will be perceived that the annual 
consumption of this valuable timber, the growth of our 
swamps, is enormous. 



44 FLOEA OF THE SOTTTH. 

Next in value to the cypress, and perhaps more inex- 
haustible, is the long-leaf pine, which is taken to the mills 
along the seaboard, or shipped in logs to Europe or the 
West Indies. 

Suitable sticks for masts or spars in ship-building are 
greatly in demand at very lucrative prices, and a great 
quantity of this description of timber is purchased for the 
French navy. 

In the counties bordering on the sea-shore, the pine is 
made to afford a considerable supply of tar and charcoal, 
much of which is taken across the lake to New Orleans. 

The long-leaf pine is not found in any quantity north 
of the 31st degree, but the short-leaf pine extends to Ten- 
nessee. 

The live oak is highly prized as an ornamental shade 
tree, but does not now exist on our coast in such abun- 
dance as to furnish any considerable supply of timber for 
ship-buUding. It is not found north of the 31st degree. 

The geographical distribution of some of our forest 
trees seems to be well defined. For example, the Magno- 
lia tripetala (umbrella tree), as a prevailing growth, seems 
to be confined to a narrow belt extending northwardly 
from our southern boundary, in a direction parallel with 
the general course of the Mississippi river, and twelve or 
fifteen miles to the east of it. 

I have not met with it north of the 33d degree of north 
latitude, which seems also to be about the northern limit 
of the Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides. 

Over extensive districts of country a single species of 
timber sometimes is found to prevail almost exclusively, 
with the exception of the inferior shi'ubs and plants that 
constitute the undergrowth. This is the case, mainly, with 
the long and short-leaf pine, which, though sometimes 



FLORA OF THE SOUTH. 45 

blended, occupy generally distinct tracts; and also -wdtli 
the post-oak and black-jack. The same may be said, but 
to less extent, of the hickory and the chestnut. 

Other tracts exhibit a remarkable variet}'^ of the forest- 
trees in close association, which generally affect distinct 
soils and situations. This was noticed as forming a remark 
able feature of the forests in the eastern part of Wilkinson 
county, and in part of Amite. 

The evergreens and deciduous trees are seen inter- 
mingled, and forming varied and pleasing contrasts. In- 
deed, it was often difficult to detect on quite limited areas 
the absence of any of our forest trees. 

The sweet-gum was formerly regarded as a useless cum- 
berer of the earth, and, from its great size on the rich allu- 
vial lands, difficult to be got rid of except by the slow pro- 
cess of deadening, by belting or cutting around the tree 
through the sap. Of late years, it has come into consid- 
erable use as a fuel on steamboats, and, when seasoned, 
little difficulty is experienced in burning it. 

The sassafras, a valuable timber tree, and formerly 
abundant, and in great demand in past years for shingles 
where the cypress was less convenient, has in consequence 
been greatly diminished, but large trees of it are still 
found in many portions of the State. 

The linn has also become scarce in many situations 
where it was formerly very abundant. In early times the 
bark was very useful in manufacturing ropes, and for other 
purposes, and this was one of the early causes of its destruc- 
tion. It is a soft-gTained wood, of even texture, free from 
knots and other imperfections, and not liable to shrink or 
warp when seasoned, and therefore very suitable for ceilings 
and other inteiior parts in buildings. 

Bees are very fond of the flowers, and the honey made 



46 FLOKA OF THE SOrTH. 

from ttem is reputed to possses a peculiarly delicate flavor. 
That from the flowers of the chinquepiu, on the contrary, 
is said to be poisonous. 

The linn appears to be most abundant, at this time, in 
the western part of Jeff^erson county. 

The Cottonwood, Populus deltoides, now the chief re- 
source for steamboat fuel on the lower Mississippi — the 
ash timber having become nearly exhausted at all accessi- 
ble points — is of very quick growth, and the rapidity with 
which it is reproduced is consequently a very favorable 
circumstance. Every new deposit made by the inundations 
of the river is speedily covered with a spontaneous growth 
of young Cottonwood, standing as thickly as a crop of 
small grain. This arrests the sediment subsequently 
brought by the river, and new islands and bars are formed, 
upon which the growth, by a natural process becoming 
sufficiently thinned out, attains a considerable size in a 
very few years, thus renewing the supply of fuel, which 
otherwise would speedily become exhausted. 

The chestnut is only found in the interior, and most 
abundantly in the northern counties. The tree seems to 
have become diseased in latter years, and is rapidly dying 
out. 

EDIBLE FRUITS. 

The peach grows to perfection and in great variety. 

The pear has been cultivated with success, and many 
varieties are found in our yards and gardens. 

The apple is raised on all our plantations, but not to 
such perfection as in the North, 

Figs are found fi-om the southern extremity of Florida 
to the 33d parallel. 

Orange groves and orchards may be seen in Texas, 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 47 

Louisiana, and Florida, and along the Gulf in INIississippi 
and Alabama. 

The damson plum attains the size of a pullet's egg, and 
the nectarine (the furzeless peach) is grown by many of our 
orchardists. 

Orapes are cultivated with remarkable success, and 
wines have been made here which will stand a good com- 
parison with the pure juices of Nicholas Longworth. 

Watermelons^ muskmelons, cantelopes, and nutmeg- 
melons gi'ow in rich abundance, while in size and flavor 
they surpass those of a more northern climate. 

Ptimjjkins reach a development fully equal to those 
which made the mouth of " Ichabod Crane "water; and 
squashes, cymlings, and cucumbers lie in profusion in our 
gardens during their season. 

We have luscious raspberries and mammoth strawber- 
ries, not surpassed by Peabody's best. 

Edible Roots. — Turnips and Irish potatoes do well ; 
and yams grow larger than a boy's thigh. The weight of 
a big yam is from 8 lbs. to 12 lbs. Beets, radishes, &c., 
all grow with trifling care. 

SECT. VI.— FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 

We propose a brief notice of the vertebrated animals 
both of the land and water, and likewise a sketch of the 
insects, both those which are beneficial and those which 
are injurious to vegetation. 

All vertebrated animals are distributed into four classes: 

1st. Mammals, or milk-giving animals. 

2d. Birds. 

3d. Reptiles. 

4th. Fishes. 

Among the mammals we may notice the 



48 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPtTLAE NAME. 

American deer, 
Black bear, 
Eaccoon, 
American wolf. 
Black wolf, 
Gray fox, 
Northern panther. 
Wild-cat, 
Beaver, 
Musk-rat, 
Gray squirrel. 
Red fox-squirrel. 
Black " 

Ground " 
Flying 
Otter, 

Shrew mole, 
American opossum, 
Leather-winged bat, 
Common rat, 
Large wood rat, 
Cotton rat, 
Common mouse. 
Wood mouse. 
Common gray rabbit, 
American gray " 
Cane or wood " 



BOrENTIFrO NAME. 

Cervus Virginianus. 
TJrsus Americanus. 
Procyon lotor. 
Lupus occidentalis. 
Canis lupus. 
Vulpes Virginianus. 
Felis concolor. 
Lyncus rufiis. 
Castor fiber. 
Fiber zibethicus. 
Seiurus lucatis. 

" capistratus. 

" niger. 

" striatus. 
Pteromys volucella. 
Lutra Canadensis. 
Scalops aquations. 
Didelphus Virginianus. 
Vespertilio Noveboracensis. 
Mus decumanus. 



Sigmodon hispidum. 
Mus musculus. 
Arvicola. 
Lepus nanus. 

" Americanus. 

" aquations. 



BIRDS. 

Natatores — Swimmers. 



Mallard, 
Wood duck, 
Sprig-tailed duck. 
Gray duck. 
Blue- winged teal, 



Anas boschas. 
" sponsa. 
' acuta. 
" strepera. 
" discors. 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



49 



POPULAR NAME, 

Green-winged teal, 

Spoon-bill duck, 

Diedipper " 

Eed-head " 

Wild goose. 

Brant, 

Water witch. 

Great loon. 

Petrel, 

Cormorant, 

White pelican, 

Gannet, or frigate bird. 

Cut- water, 

Marsh tern, 

Common gull. 



SOIENTiriO NAMK. 

Anas Carolinensis. 

*' clypeata. 
Fuligula albeola. 

" erythrocephala. 
Anser Canadensis. 

" bemicla. 
Podiceps cristatus. 
Colymbus glacialis. 
Thalasidroma Wilsonii. 
Phalacrocorax Brasilensis. 
Pelicanus trachyrhynchus. 
Tachypetes aquilus. 
Khynchops nigra. 
Sterna Anglica. 
Lai'us zonorhynchus. 



GrallcB — Waders. 



American ring plover. 
Piping plover, 
Wilson's " 
KiUdeer " 
Whistling " 
Whooping crane. 
Great blue heron. 
Great white " 
White-crested " 
Blue " 

Green " 

Bittern, 
Indian hen, 
Eoseate spoonbill, 
White ibis. 
Glossy " 
Spanish curlew. 
Gray plover, 
3 



Charadrius semipalmatus. 
" raelodus. 

" Wilsonius. 

" vociferus. 

Squatarola Helvetica. 
Grus Americana. 
Ardea Herodias. 
" leuce. 
" candidissima. 
" cerulea. 
" virescens. 
" exilis. 
" minor. 
Platalea ajaja. 
Ibis alba. 

" Mexicana. 
Numenius longirostris, 
Totanus Bartramius. 



50 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPTJXAE NAME. 

American snipe, 

"Woodcock, 

Eail, 

Coot, 



SCIENTIFIC NAME, 

Scolopax Wilsonii. 
Eiisticola minor. 
Ortygoraotra Carolinensis. 
Fulica Americana. 



Hasores — Seratchers. ■ 



"Wild turkey, 
Partridge, or quail. 



Meleagris galliparvo. 
Ortyx Virginiana. 



Scansores — GUmters. 



Crested woodpecker, 
Eed-headed " 
Yellow-bellied " 
Downy " 

Golden-winged " 
Ivory-bill " 

American cuckoo. 



Picus pileatus. 

" erythrocephalns. 

" varius. 

^' rubescens. 

" aurantus. 

" principalis. 
Ooccyzus Americanus. 



Paroquet, Carolina parrot, Psiticus Carolinensis. 



Insessores — Perchers. 



House martin, 
Barn swallow, 
Chimney swallow, 
"Whippoorwill, 
Chuckwill's widow, 
King-fisher, 
Humming-bird, 
House wren, 
American robin, 
Cedar-bird, 
Blue-bird, 
Mocking-bird, 
Brown thrush. 
King-bird, or bee martin. 



Hirundo purpurea. 

" rufa. 
Acanthylis Pelasgia. 
Caprimulgus vociferus. 

a u 

Alcedo alcyon. 
Trochilns colubris. 
Troglodytes aedon. 
Merula migratoria. 
Bombycilla Carolinensis. 
Sialia Wilsonii. 
Orpheus polyglottus. 

" rufus. 
Tyrannus intrepidus. 



1 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



61 



POPTTLAB NAME. 

Blue jay, 
Common crow, 
Crow blackbird, 
Meadow lark, 
Golden oriole, 
Ked- winged oriole, 
Red-winged starling, 
Crested red-bird. 
Red-bird, 



SOIENTIFIO NAME. 

Garrulus cristatus. 
Corvus Americanus. 
Quiscalns versicolor. 
Sturnella Ludoviciana. 
Jeterus Baltimore. 
" Plioeniceus. 
SturniTs prsedatorius. 
Pityliis cardinalis. 
Pyranga oestiva. 



Turkey buzzard. 
Carrion crow. 



Bai^tores — Birds of Prey. 

VTJLTTJEE FAMILY. 

Cathartes aura. 



atratus. 



FALCON FAMILY. 



Bald or brown eagle, 
Red-tailed hawk. 
Chicken " 
Swallow-tailed hawk, 
Sparrow hawk. 



Haliatus lucocephalus. 
Butes borealis. 
Falco anatum. 
Nauclerus furcatus. 
Falco sparveriu3> 



OWL FAMILY. 



Great horned owl. 
Screech-owl, 
Short-eared owl, 
Barred owl, 



Bubo Virginianus. 

" asio. 
Otus palustris. 
Ulula nebulosa. 



EEPTELES. 

Turtle Family. 



Soft-shelled turtle, 
Loggerhead turtle, 
Snapping turtle, 



Trionyx ferox. 
Chelonura Temmincki. 
" serpentina. 



52 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH, 



POPTIXAR NAME. 

Green turtle, 
Hawk-bill turtle, 
Mud turtle, 
Terrapin, 
Gopher, 



SOIENTinO NAMB. 

Chelonura mydas. 
" caretta. 
Kinosternon Pennsylvanicum. 
Cistuda Carolina. 
Testudo polyphsemus. 



Lizard Family. 



Alligator, 
Chameleon, 
Gray lizard. 
Striped lizard, 
Eed-headed lizard, 



Alligator Mississippiensis, 
Anolis Carolinensis. 
Tropidolepis undulatus. 
Cnemidopliorus sexlineatus. 
Ligosoma quinquelineatus. 



Batraehian Family. 



Ground puppy, 
Water lizard. 
Bull-frog, 
Spring frog, 
"Wood frog, 
Leopard frog. 
Tree |oad. 
Common toad. 



Salamandra, seven species. 
Siren lacertina. 
Eana pipiens. 

" fontanalis. 

" sylvatica. 
Hyla halecina. 

" viridis. 
Buffo Americanus. 



SnaTce Family. 

The following catalogue of our snakes was made by 
Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, and de- 
scribed in his work on the Serpents of North America : 



Banded rattlesnake, 
Ground rattlesnake. 
Copperhead, 



OPHIDIA. 

Crotalidm. 



Crotalus durissus. 
Orotalophorus milarius. 
Agkistrodon contortrix. 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



53 



POPrrLAE NAME. 

"Water moccason, 
Upland moccason, 
Highland moccason, 
Cotton-mouth, 



SCIENTIFIC NAHX. 

Toxicophis piscivorus. 
Toxicophis atrofuscus. 



Elapsoidea. 

Harlequin snake, ) ^^^^^ f^^^g_ 

Bead snake, S 

" " Elaps tristis. 



ColuberidcB. 



Swift garter-snake. 
Striped snake, 
"Water snake, 
Blowing viper, ) 
Hog-nose snake, ) 
Spreading adder, 
Hog-nose viper, 
Black pilot snake. 
Chicken snake. 
Milk snake, 
Cow snake. 
Egg snake, ) 
King snake, ) 
Common black snake, 
Coach-whip snake, 
Green snake, 

(( u 

Ring-necked snake, 
Scarlet snake,- 
Brown snake, 
"Worm snake, 

Eing snake, 



Eutsenia saurita ? 
" sirtalis. 
Nerodia Holbrookii? 

Heterodon platyrhinos. 

" niger. 

" simus. 

Scotophis guttatus. 

Ophibolus clericus. 

" Sayi. 

Bascanion constrictor. 
Masticophis flagelliformis. 
Leptophis sestivus. 
Chlorosoma vernalis. 
Diadophis punctatus. 
Rhinostoma coccinea. 
Haldea striatula. 
Celuta amoena. 
Tantilla coronata. 
Osceola elapsoidea. 



54 FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 

The following catalogue of tlie fishes of the Southwest, 
prepared by Professor Agassiz, is regarded as an exhaustive 
classification : 

PLACOmS. 
Rajce. 

POPULAE NAME. SCIENTIFIC NAMB. 

Sting-ray, Trygon Sabina. Les. 

Saw-fish, Pristis pectinatus. Lath, 

GANOIDS. 

Sturiones. 
Shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platirhynchus. 

Spoonbill sturgeon, Polyodon folium. Lac. 

Sauroids. 

Alligator gar, Lepidosteus spatula. Lac. 

u * 



Pike gar, " - 

Black gar, " Ohasei. Wailes. 

Coelacanths. 
Mud-fish, Amia calva. 

Ostraciontes. 
Cow-fish, Ostracion * 

Gymnodontes. 
, Diodon maculato-striatus. Mitch. 

Siluroids. 

Oat-fish, salt water, Galeichthys marinus. Cuv. 

" " Arius Milberti. Cwo. 

" fresh water, Pimelodus coerulescens. Raf. 
« " " limosus. Raf. 

* Species not yet identified. 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



55 



POPTTLAE KAIIB. 



Ad gel-fish, 



CTENOIDS. 
PleuronectidcB. 

6CIENT1FI0 NAME. 

Acliirus mollis. Mitch. 

Chcetodonts. 

Ephippus faber. Bio. 
ChEetodon striatus, Lin. 



Sheepsliead, 
Pine perch, 



Sparoids. 



Sargus ovis. Mitch. 

" rhoinboides. Guv. 



Sciosnoids. 



Trout, 
u 

Eed-fish, 
"Whiting, 
Big drum, 
Young drum, 
"White perch, 
Croaker, or grunt, 



Otolithus Carolinensis. Cuv. 

" Druinmondi. Rich. 
Corvina ocellata. Cuv. 
Umbrina alburnns. Cuv. 
Pogonias chromis. Lac. 

" fasciatus. Lac. 

Amblodon .* 

Micropogon undulatus. Cut). 



Striped bass, 
Eockfish, 
Red snapper. 
Snapper, 



yeUow-tail. 



Percoids. 
Labrax ■ 



" li neat us. Cuv. 
Serranus erythrogaster. De K. 



Diploprion fascicularis. Hoi. 

Mesoprion uuinotatus. Cuv. 

" chrysurus. Cuv. 

Centropristis trifurca. Cuv. 



* Species not yet identified. 



56 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 



POPCXAE NAME. 



Goggle-eye, 



SCIENTiriO NAMB. 

Calliurus gulosus. Ag. 
Pomotis incisor. Val. 

" hsematodes. Ag. 

" atrorubens. Ag. 





Mugiloids. 


Jumping mullet, 


Mugil Plumieri. Cuv. 




CYCLOIDS, 




SpTiyrosnoids. 




Sphyraena Barracuda. Cn 


» 




Seoniberoida. 


Spotted mackerel, 

Pilot-fish, 

Pompeno, 


Oybium maculatum. Cwo. 
Naucrates ductor. Cuv. 
Licliia Carolina. 


> 




> 
SUver-fish, 


Vomer Brownii, Cwo. 
Elacate Atlantica. Cuv. 



Bill-fish, 

Pike, 

Toad-fish, 



Scombereaoces. 

Belone Caribaea. Let. 

Esoees. 

Esox .* 



LopMoids. 

Maltbea vespertilio. Cuv. 



* Species not yet identified. 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 
Labroids. 



57 



POPULAB NAME. 



Gaspsergoo, 

Buffalo, 

Sucker, 



Top-water, 



Minnow, 



BOIENTinO NAME. 



Lachnolaemus aigula. Gwo, 



Cyprinoids. 

Ichtliyobus 
Carpiodes — 



Oatostoraus 



Cyprinodonts. 

Zygonectes olivaceus. Ag. 
Oypriiiodon ovinus, Val. 
Fundulus spilotus. Hoi. 
Heterandria Ilolbrookii. Ag. 

Scopelini. 

Saiirus Mexicanus. Guv. 



Tarpon, or Big-scale, 
Eel, 



Clnpeoids. 
Olupea 



Megalops cyprinoides. Lam. 



AnguillidcB. 
Anguilla 



INSECTS. 

We have in the South representatives of the seven 
orders of the insect world, viz. : 

1. Beetles (Coleoptera) ', 2. Bugs {Hemiptera) \ 3. 
Straight-winged insects [Orthoptera) '^ 4. Butterflies and 
moths {Lepidoptera) ; 5. Net-winged insects [Neuroptera) ; 



3* 



* Species not yet identified. 



58 FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 

6. Vein-winged insects {Hijmenoptera)\ 7. Two-winged 
insects {Diptera). 

A brief notice of some of the more prominent of these 
orders is all that we can attempt in a work of this kind. 

Order 1. Beetles. — A practical classification arranges 
beetles in three families. 1. Carnivorous beetles, which 
prey upon living insects. 2, Scavenger beetles, which 
live on putrid matter, decayed wood, and plants. 3. Her- 
bivorous beetles, which feed on plants and fruits. 

The first two are useful, but the third are noxious, de- 
structive to vegetation, injuring the planter, reducing his 
profits, and exerting a decided influence on the commerce 
of the world and the comfort of the human family. 
Among the carnivorous beetles we may mention two or 
three species of tiger beetles ( Cichidelce) ; the southern 
lady-bird ( Cocinella australis) ; caterpillar-hunters ( Calo- 
somce), which are found in our corn and cotton fields, fill- 
ing the office which Nature has assigned them — devouring 
the insects which injure vegetation. 

Among the scavenger beetles we notice the tumble-bug 
(Aluchus volvens), a cosmopolite of great notoriety ; the 
horned passahis {Passahis cornutus) and the stag-beetle 
[Lucanus dama), both with pincer-like jaws ; and the fox- 
like cetonia (Amphicoura vnljjina). 

These scavenger beetles deposit their eggs usually in 
rotten wood, sometimes in the ground, and the grubs or 
larvce live for years as such before their metamorphosis 
into perfect beetles. Upon their emergence into the per- 
fect state they commence their labors, and work most dili- 
gently till arrested by cold v/eather. They pui'ify the 
atmosphere by feeding on putrid substances and the excre- 
ments of animals. 

Herbivorous beetles have a horny skin and hard wing- 



FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. ' 59 

covers. They feed on vegetable substances not only in 
their peifuct state, but when they are grubs. In this list 
we place the spring beetles (Ulater), several species ; Capri- 
corn beetles [Crambicince) ', snout beetles (CrcrcuUones), 
including the wheat weevil, rice weevil, and pea weevil ; 
and the leaf-eaters ( Chrysomilince). 

Order 2. Bags. — Bugs do not generally undergo 
metamorphosis, like beetles. They come forth from their 
eggs in a perfect condition, with six legs and a proboscis, 
having no wings. The Cicadce form the only exception to 
this rule. 

In this order we may enumerate the squash bug 
( Coreus tristis), which sucks with its snout the sap of the 
squash and potato plants, and makes its winter quarters 
in the crevices of houses and under the bark of trees ; 
tree-hoppers [Membracis), which feed on the leaves of the 
oak, the hickory, the locust, and the poplar; plant lice 
(Aphis), infesting trees, bushes, and herbs; shield lice 
(Coccus), which suck the sap of fruit trees. 

Order 3. Straight-winged Insects. — We include among 
these the grasshopper, walking-leaves, crickets, cock- 
roaches, earwigs, soothsayers, walking-sticks, etc., all of 
which are found in great variety and abundance. 

Order 4. Butterflies and Moths are foun-d in great va- 
riety. The useful silkworm can be raised with less care 
than in the North. We have seen the Cecropia, the Poly- 
pheme, the Luna, and the Promefhea, forming their cocoons 
upon the leaves of our forest trees, as well as upon the 
trees of the orchards, inviting, as it were, the attention of 
man. We have the millers, the tent-caterpillars, the spaw- 
worm, the canker-worm, the apple-worm, all of which are 
more or less injurious. We are troubled also with the 
bee-moth, the grain-worm, the carpet-moth, and the hawk- 



60 FAUNA OF THE SOUTH. 

moths. We enroll on the list beautiful and harmless butter- 
flies, with all their classic names — Priam, Hector, Ulysses, 
Ajax, Apollo, Iris, lo, Achilles, Nestor, Menelaus, Paris, 
Anchises, Helena, Remus, ^ueas, Atalauta, and Argus. 

Butterflies are harmless, fi-om the fact that they have 
no mouths to eat with, but simply a proboscis, by which 
they suck the juices of flowers. 

Order 5. Net-winged Insects. — All of the insects of 
this order are useful to man, and desei-ve our protecting 
eare. We mention among the number the dragon-fly 
(Libellula), ever on the wing, hovering over flelds, brooks, 
and ponds, greedily devouring gnats, mosquitoes, caterpil- 
lars, and flies of every description ; the horned corydalis 
[Corydalis cornutus), and the day-fly [Ephemera vulgata). 

Order 6. Vein-ivinged Insects. — These are the busy 
laborers, "gathering honey all the day," and distributing 
the pollen of flowers to render them productive ; or de- 
stroying noxious insects as food for themselves and their 
young ones. 

We notice the gall-wasp ( Cynips\ which forms the oak 
ball ; the gold wasp [Chrysls) ; the mud-wasp [Sphex Penn- 
Si/lvanica), which lives in the sand, and destroys spiders 
and cockroaches ; the hornet ( Vesper chartaria) ; the ants 
{Formica) ; and the honey-bee [Apis mellifera). 

Order 7. Two-winged Insects, or Flies. — We include 
in this list the various gadflies which annoy horses, oxen, 
and sheep ; the house-fly [Musca domestica) ; the meat- 
fly [Musca vomitoria) ; the Hessian fly [Cecidomyia da- 
structor) ; the flea {Pulez irritans) ; and the mosquito 
( Culex). 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 61 



SECT. Vn.— THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

Soils may be arranged in the following classes : 

1. Clay soils, consisting of silex, alumina, and oxide 
of iron. 

2. Loamy soil, consisting of about equal parts of sand 
and clay, with more or less oxide of iron. 

3. Sandy soil, consisting of an excess of sand, witli 
about ten per cent, of clay. 

4. Marly soils, containing loam and from 5 to 20 per 
cent, of lime. 

5. Calcareous soils, wliicb exhibit loamy and silicious 
matter, mingled with lime, varying from 20 to 40 per cent, 

6. Vegetable moulds, presenting, upon examination, 
clayey, loamy, or sandy matter, mixed with about 10 per 
cent, of vegetable matter. 

The following directions for examining soils are taken 
from Johnston's " Agricultural Chemistry " : 

1. Weigh 100 grains of the soil, spread them in a thin 
layer upon white paper, and place them for some hours in 
an oven or other hot place, the heat of which may be raised 
till it only does not discolor the paper. The loss is water. 

2. Let it noAv (after drying and weighing) be burned 
over the fire as above described. The second loss is or- 
ganic, chiefly vegetable matter, with a little water which 
still remained in the soil after drying. 

3. After being thus burned, let it be put into half a 
pint of water with half a wineglassful of spirit of salt, and 
frequently stirred. When minute bubbles of air cease to 
rise from the soil on settling, this process may be consid- 
ered as at an end. The loss by this treatment will be a 
little more than the true percentage of lime. 



C2 THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

4. A fresh portion of the soil (say 200 grains), in its 
moist state, may now be taken and washed, to determine 
the quantity of silicious sand it contains. If the residual 
sand be supposed to contain calcareous matter, its amount 
may be readily determined by treating the dried sand with 
diluted muriatic acid, in the same way as when determin- 
ing the whole amount of lime contained in the unwashed 
soil. 

We have in the South all these varieties of soil ; and in 
order to determine what kind of soil is best adapted to the 
culture of cotton, the following general principles must be 
understood : 1. A soil suitable for the production of any 
given vegetable, whether grain or fruit, must contain all 
the inorganic constituents which the plant requires, and 
none that can do it any injury. 

2. A defective soil can be fertilized only by the addi- 
tion of a manure containing the substance or substances 
which were originally wanting. 

With these explanations we present the following anal- 
yses of cotton soils, and of the ash of the cotton plant, by 
Charles T. Jackson, M.D., of Boston : 

ANALYSES OF COTTON-PRODTJCING SOILS. 
No. 1. 

iSoil from St. Simoti's Island., Georgia^ on which the Sea Island 
or Long-sta2)le Cotton is groion. 

This soil consists of a gray sand, mixed with a fine 
loam, containing black particles. One thousand grains of 
it yield to boiling distilled water If grains of soluble mat- 
ter, ly^Q- grains of which consist of vegetable organic mat- 
ter, and half a grain of mineral salts, consisting of chloiide 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 63 

of sodium, phosphates of Ume and soda, sulphates of soda 
and potash, sulphate of magnesia, and carbonate of lime, 
which was originally a crenate of lime. 

One thousand grains of this soil yield to a boiling so- 
lution of carbonate of ammonia 3| grains of soluble matter, 
two-fifths of a grain of which consist of mineral salts, as 
above named. 

The insoluble carbonaceous matters amounted to 24 
grains to 1,000, or 2|- per cent. 

Silica 92.040 per cent. 

Alumina 1.500 " 

Lime 0.280 " 

Magnesia 0.370 " 

Potash 1.000 " 

Soda 0.500 " 

Peroxide of iron and oxide man- 
ganese 1.500 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.040 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.009 " 

Chlorine 0.010 " 

Creuic, apocrenic, and humic acids. 0.3G0 " 
Insoluble vegetable (carbonaceous) 

matter 2.400 " 

Carbonic acid trace. 

100.009 



Analysis of the Ash of Sea Island or Long-staple Cotton^ from 
St. Simon''s Island, as ahove. 

The stalk of this plant, stripped of its leaves and bolls, 
when burned, yielded 107 grains of ashes. The leaves, 
burned, yielded 107-|- grains of ashes; and the cotton fibre 
yielded, when burned, 13 grains to 1,000. One thousand 



64 THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

grains of the seeds, when bumed, yielded 36| grains of 
ashes. > 

Twenty-five grains of the ashes from the stalks yielded — 

Silica 0.600 grains. 

Carbonic acid 6.000 " 

Chlorine 0.198 « 

Sulphuric acid 0.480 " 

Phosphoric acid 3.969 " 

Lime 7.059 " 

Magnesia 0.183 " 

Potash 3.802 " 

Soda.. 1.744 " 

24.035 " 
Loss 0.965 " 

25.000 



Twenty-five grains of the ashes of the leaves yielded- 

Silica 1.200 grains. 

Carbonic acid 4.959 " 

Chlorine 0.667 " 

Sulphuric acid 1.271 " 

Phosphoric acid 4.864 " 

Lime 6.978 " 

Magnesia 0.350 " 

Potash 2.922 « 

Soda... 1.789 » 

25.000 



One thousand grains of the clear cotton fibre, yielding 
13.1 grains of ashes, gave — 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 65 

Silica 0.60 grains. 

Carbonic acid 2.80 " 

Chlorine 0.30 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.54 " 

Phosphoric acid. , 1.64 " 

Lime 1.80 « 

Magnesia 0.64 " 

Potash 2.79 " 

Soda 1.90 » 

13.10 " 



One thousand grains of the seeds yielded 36-| grain? 
of ashes, ■whicli consist of — 

Silica 0.1000 grains. 

Carbonic acid (diff.) 0.3504 " 

Chlorine 0.3940 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.0980 " 

Phosphoric acid 11.3618 " 

Lime 1.7484 " 

Magnesia 6.0838 " 

Potash 13.3566 » 

Soda 3.1070 " 

36.6000 



No. 2. 

Upper Alluvial Soil of Savannah River ^ on tcMch the Short- 
staple Cotton groics, in Edgefield^ South Carolina. 

This soil yields upon analysis — 

Silica 78.000 per cent. 

Alumina 10.040 " 

Lime 0.260 " 

Magnesia 0.200 " 



66 THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

Potasli 1.000 per cent. 

Soda 0.730 » 

Peroxide of ii-on and oxide man- 
ganese 4.850 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.310 " 

Sulphuric acid trace. 

Chlorine 0.050 " 

Orenic, apocrenic, and humic acids. 0.400 " 

Insoluhle vegetable matter 4 300 " 

100.140 " 



One thousand grains of this soil, digested with a solu- 
tion of carbonate of ammonia, yield 4^ grains of soluble 
matter, four grains of which consist of the organic acids 
of the soil, namely, crenic, apocrenic, and humic acids, and 
nine-tenths of a grain consist of mineral matters — phos- 
phate of lime, sulphate of hme, magnesia, oxide of iron — 
the alkalies, soda and potash, and a little silica. 

This soil has for its mineral constituents the disin- 
tegrated matters from the metamorphic rocks, chiefly 
micaceous and argillaceous slate rocks, the particles of 
mica being unusually abundant, but the argillaceous mat- 
ters in a finely decomposed state, or in the condition 
of clay. 

No. 3. 

Upland Cotton Soil, from near Jackson, Mississippi, the sam- 
ples ohlaineclfrom the surface to the depth of ten inches. 

This soil is very fine loam, and, when dry, is almost an 
impalpable dust. One hundred grains of it on analysis 
yielded — 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 6Y 

Silica 81.00 per cent. 

Alumina 6.80 " 

Lime 0.57 " 

Magnesia 1.60 " 

Potash - 0.58 « 

Soda 1.29 « 

Peroxides of iron and manganese. . 4.18 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.38 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.07 " 

Chlorine 0.05 " 

Crenic, apocrenic, and humic acids. 0.30 " 

Insoluble vegetable matter 3.00 " 

99.82 " 

Loss 0.18 » 

100.00 " 



The subsoil of the above, obtained twenty inches below 
the surface, yielded — 

Silica 83.451 per cent. 

Alumina 4.100 " 

Lime 0.500 " 

Magnesia 1.800 " 

Potash 0.790 " 

Soda 1.450 " 

Peroxides of iron and manganese. 3.900 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.190 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.014 " 

Chlorine 0.005 " 

Crenic, apocrenic, and humic acids, 0.410 " 

Insoluble vegetable matter 3.000 " 

99.610 " 

Loss 0.390 " 

100.000 " 



68 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 



No. 4. 



I 



Surface Soil from Samtjel Wood's plantation^ in Hancock 
County^ Mississipi^L 

One hundred parts by weight of this soil yielded — 



Silica 88.52 per 

Alumina 1.20 

Lime 0,40 

Magnesia 0.50 

Potash 0.38 

Soda 1.00 

Peroxides of iron and manganese . . 2,00 

Phosphoric acid 0.60 

Sulphuric acid (less than x^oo) trace. 

Chlorine trace. 

Orenic, apocrenic, and humic acids. . 0.92 

Carbonic acid . 0.20 

Insoluble vegetable matter . , . . 4.33 



cent. 



100.05 



One thousand grains of this soil yielded to boiling dis- 
tilled water two grains of soluble matter, or one-fifth of one 
per cent, and this, on incineration, yielded half a grain of 
ash, or five-hundredths of one per cent. Tlie ash consists 
of phosphate of lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, sulphate 
of lime, and the alkalies, potash and soda. 

Digested in a solution of carbonate of ammonia, one 
thousand grains of the soil produce a dark coffee-brown 
solution, which, evaporated to dryness, yields ten grains of 
soluMe matter, consisting of the organic acids of the soil, 
namely, crenic, apocrenic, and humic acids ; and on being 
burned off, this matter yields four-fifths of a grain of ash. 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 69 

consisting of the mineral salts which were combined with 
the above-named acids. The organic acids weigh 9^ 
grains, or ninety-two hundredths of one per cent., and the 
ashes, or mineral salts, eight-hundredths of one per cent. 
One hundred grains of the subsoil yield on analysis — 

Silica 90.000 per cent. 

Alumina 2.000 " 

Lime 0.280 " 

Magnesia 0.300 " 

Potash 0.290 " 

Soda 2.014 " 

Peroxides of iron and manganese. 1.200 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.800 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.007 " 

Chlorine 0.005 « 

Crenic, apocrenic, and humic acids . 1.020 " 

Insoluble vegetable matter 2. 790 " 

100.716 " 



One thousand grains of this subsoil, on digestion with 
a solution of carbonate of ammonia, at a boiling heat, 
yield 12^ grains of soluble organic matter and salts ; and, 
on combustion, two grains of saline or mineral matter re- 
main, leaving for organic matters dissolved 12-|- grains. 
The ash contains phosphate of hme, sulphate of lime, soda, 
potash, and chlorine. 

From the composition of this subsoil, it will appear 
that deep or subsoil ploughing is indicated as appropriate 
for this plantation ; for the subsoil is richer in certain im- 
portant ingredients than the surface soil, as will be seen 
on comparing the proportions of soda and of phosphoric 
acid. 



70 THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

Analysis of the Ash of a Long-staple {Sea Island) Cotton 
Plant talcen from the same Soil as above. 

The stalk of tliis plant, weigliing thirteen ounces, on 
behig burned, yielded one hundred and thirty-three grains 
of ashes, which consist of, in twenty-five grains of the ash — 

Silica 1.150 grains. 

Carbonic acid 5.600 " 

Chlorine 0.603 » 

Sulphuric acid 0.412 " 

Phosphoric acid 2.739 " 

Lime 6.254 " 

Magnesia -. . . . 1.100 " 

Potash 2.851 " 

Soda 3.351 " 

Peroxide of iron 0.940 » 

25.000 " 






on 



The dry leaves, weighing seven and one-half ounces, 
V.XX being burned, yielded three hundred and six grains of 
ashes, and twenty-five grains of this ash gave, on analysis — 

Silica 1.540 grains. 

Carbonic acid 3.800 " 

Chlorine 2.220 " 

Sulphuric acid 1.065 " 

Phosphoric acid 2.795 " 

Lime 7.275 " 

Magnesia 0.200 " 

Potash 3.522 " 

Soda 1.908 » 

Peroxide of iron 0.675 " 

25.000 " 



\ 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 71 

One thousand grains of the fibre, or clean cotton, 
yielded fifteen grains of aslies, which consist of — 

Silica. 0.240 grains. 

Carbonic acid 3.500 " 

Chlorine 1.100 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.824 " 

Phosphoric acid 1.Y33 " 

Lime 2.641 " 

Magnesia 0.200 " 

Potash 3.628 ^' 

Soda 0.974 " 

Carbon (not burned) 0.230 " 

15.070 " 



One thousand grains of the seeds yielded 41-|^ grains 
of ashes, which consist of — 

Sihca 0.1 60 grains. 

Carbonic acid 1.200 " 

Chlorine 0.430 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.872 " 

Phosphoric acid 10.640 " 

Lime 1.850 " 

Magnesia 7.860 " 

Potash 12.340 " 

Soda 4.472 " 

Loss 1.376 " 

41.200 " 



Analysis of Ashes of Short-staple Cotton^ from Hamburg^ 
South Ga/rolina. 

One thousand grains of the clean cotton fibre, burned, 
yielded fifteen grains of ashes, which consist of — 



72 THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 

Silica 0.150 grains. 

Carbonic acid 4.100 " 

Chlorine 1.105 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.Y79 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.581 " 

Lime 1,070 " 

Magnesia 0.250 " 

Potash 4.412 " 

Soda 2.140 " 

14.587 

Loss 0.413 " 

15.000 " 



One thousand grains of the seeds yielded thirty-nine 
grains of ashes, which consist of — 

Silica 0.080 grains. 

Carbonic acid (diff.) A . . . 1.018 " 

Chlorine 0.480 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.892 " 

Phosphoric acid 10.690 " 

Lime 1.126 " 

Magnesia 7.600 " 

Potash 13.096 " 

Soda 4.018 « 

39.000 " 



Analysis of the Seeds of a Short-staple Cotton Plants from 
Jackson, Mississippi. 

One thousand grains of the seed, burned, yielded 
twenty-eight grains of ashes, which consist of — 



THE SOIL OF THE COTTON STATES. 73 

Silica 0.260 grains. 

Carbonic acid 1.000 " 

Chlorine 0.260 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.240 " 

Phosphoric acid 7.648 " 

Lime 1.122 " 

Magnesia 5.032 " 

Potash 7.276 " 

Soda 4.962 " 

27.800 " 

Loss 0.200 « 

28.000 



Analysis of the Ashes of the entire Plant of Upland or Short- 
staple Cotton, from Savannah River, Georgia. 

The whole plant, wHcli weighed three pounds when 
dried, yielded, on burning, nine hundred and sixty grains 
of ashes, twenty-five grains of which were resolved into— 

Silica 0.570 grains. 

Carbonic acid 5.600 " 

Chlorine 0.239 " 

Sulphuric acid 0.927 " 

Phosphoric acid 2.403 " 

Lime 4.478 " 

Magnesia 2.509 " 

Potash and soda (diff.) 6.394 '* 

Peroxide of iron 1.880 "■ 

25.000 



Remarks. — By these analyses we learn the nature and 
proportions of the mineral ingredients which the dificrent 
4 



74 AGRICULTXTKAL STATISTICS. 

parts of tlie cotton plants draw from the soil, and wliicli 
must be present in the soil to render it capable of pro- 
ducing this crop. 

Now, since the seeds weigh nearly four times as much 
as the cotton fibre in each plant, it is evident that, as they 
are very rich in saline matters, phosphates of magnesia 
and lime, and in the alkalies, potash and soda, they form 
one of the most' valuable fertilizers to return to the soil. 
If the seed be sold and sent away for the manufacture of 
oil, the oil-cake, stUl containing all the saline matters, may 
be returned as a manure for cotton fields, and it will be 
found to be one of the best fertilizers, not only for that 
crop, but also for corn, which requires a large supply of 
the phosphates and alkalies. 

It does not appear by these analyses that sea island or 
long-staple cotton plants appropriate any more chlorine 
or chloride of sodium than the short-staple varieties ; and 
it seems probable that atmospheric influences on the humid 
seaboard favor the growth of the long-staple cottons, and 
that the saline matters in the soil do not produce the dif- 
ference by their absorption into the plants. 

SECT. VIII.— AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 

We present the following table as a fair average for 
twenty years, including 1840 and 1860, of the productions 
of the cotton States. As to the land, improved and unim- 
proved, we are unable, at this date, to speak with precision, 
but we believe the statement in the table is not far from 
con-ect : 



AGEICULTDRAL STATISTICS. 



Y5 



si 



S ■i 



I" 



iO O OS 'C,'^ ^'^^'^^^ 



-tP 'M iO r- '» (M CO '^■r-^T-*_ 
COT!<t- 00 -^ tT T-1 T-H Oi 









.>1 C:> '^ C? ^ 00 CO CO 
t— »C CO O 'X '^ -^ '"'^'"T" 



COwSiO'M^t— 00--0 



s -^ '^^ Qo CO iO -M 






'» CO c 

co"ar> 



CicotQC^C'icoTHOcoio 



CICOt 






GOCSCiOt— r-'TOCOM'as 

OTt*o-t:otOi-ttd'X>'^ 

O^O^C^ ri O^O O CO *0 00 

CO o'^ri ^ '^i'^Oi'^i'^cf^ 

-■^-■^■^l^^ 00 'X) Cfi GO 



»OtHOSOStJ<GOiOCOO«) 

t-iOb-'^rHiO'yjt— COb- 

a^o^-i^^^o^f^o^co^o ci »o th 
co" r rao" ^ io" Tf' cT co" — r o" 

'^^O_C0^C3 -^ -+ O ci t- rH 
iO-^'iS -^COt-T jo" 



^.2 03 a ^ rt 

■55 £?•- «™ « :l^ 



i-2 



l-OC©C0(M'MOt*Ci« 

_^o -* O^i-i o c^) ci o:> O 
t^z^ aTcTo'co'^f <>f t-^ jo 

r-.-J3C^OOOiOOi-i-^b- 

b^ic"o of T-Tari-ro'to" o 

iHtH<M (M r-l 1-H tH G<I 



COCOt— COO-fi-CMb-O 

r-<OT-iiC'*C0OG<JCMO 

THCOiioooaojiOicoo 

00_O_rH » OS iQ O eO GO 
r-TT-Toi T-J i-T 



■^lOTHOOiCOOCOr-l 
' — ( 'r) C^ CCi CO o cs 



-Oi-HOCrsrH 

O ^ lO CO CO r-< r-1 GO 



cimcsocoTt^ooGOOT-f 

OCO'-^i-'^OOir-ttMO 
'*^^ O^TJH^'M Ol t- 0^03,0 

CO to OS QO CO CO T-fO cr 

'^ lO to rH Tf XP ''t 1- 



cit— 'tO'i^'^^iOaotcoso 

ooX'crjtoX'tococo^ 

CO^iO C^t^OS Tt< Oi CM G^ 0» 
COC^t- COQOi-OOCOOO 



OStPCOCOt-'i-ICO-Ht-ICO 

'^'^„'^^ iO b^cq o^co T~t^-n* 

Cq r-H Or-t - - 
<M G*r-i (M 



fMOiCOt— C^r-HOl—tCSiJ 



OJCOOSfMiOt-OiCOOiCO 

u^iyi!— oaiT^-f-x>oo 

■M^Tl^CO 0_X^iO_(» Tt< iO CO 



■C^ CO O O O ' 



coi-Hi-MGOTHO-^ot— :o 

^ 03 b- CO -l^ O ^ T-H CO C5 CO 

S 1 ^^'--^cc, J^^q^'^, ic I- -^ CO 

Hr o -^ Olio r-l :>J r-t CO t— -^ I'- 



G « 






76 



AGEICULTUKAL STATISTICS. 



O 3 



Xi g 



• 1-1 

O 

o 



ei 
■*■» 
CO 






^^ 



5 CO t-Ol Ol 
- -■^ iO O O w^ ^^ -^ 
O iO r-i iH rH CO 



■^OCT.COCQOilOr— TTtiS 
CO •'li O Tti ri T-' 



COOOO^i-'OStOt— 05COCO 



cocOi-HOfMcoascoo-* 
ao-o:DO'>Jcococ^T-»oo 

•* ' * T-i C^ CO o o 



COOOC^i-t«)iOOOb-b- 
iO_r- t-^w c^<;o^Ti^ r-< o T-< 
aTccco^r-Tt-^cr co^crTo? 



t-iO'^lCXMGOCO^OOQO 

<?f ^o"co"o CO aTar^cT CO 

lOC^-^^OCDOTOCSiOO 



T-tTt«05C3COrMCO^CiCO 
U^iOasO-rfOt--l-CO'M 
0_Tji^O^CO_0,O^OD,CO OJ^OI 



O^ i~( CO Ol G^ i-( 



iO 



o»— ccoi-rasi-i(Mcooo 

■rH_C^^»0^ — ^'^ as --f t— O CO 

cTccTcrrT-r-ffb^ i-ToToi" 

C0«^'J5 OiCO -^Oii-t 



.2 o 



o^ 






OsaiQpCO-**iOCOCOCJ«D 

id~t-' 'xTb-^o'i-Tco'cXGo'b-^ 

OlCOOOiOt--Tl<C^COOOt- 
-— ■'^■-»-»— ■^b-Tj»C0'"*— 



COfOSaOwfNfMifptM'i* 
T-.C5t-<MOCOCO'#CO-4' 

■^cocC'0'*}i^':oaoa6 



o ^ b- 1- <£) T-t io ■**rco t 

TJ CO 'M '^ to Oi OS as ' 
1^ T-1 O^ C^ 0< r-( <: 



CO iO Oi O la --t* -?» 



iOOCOfMC^CMlOaCCO-* 



■* <>I<M CO T 



a0O«0OOt-l00i»0<M 
iCa-OSi-tC^IOTHOJCOOJ 



i-<OCOiOO^T-«b-OSOOT-( 
•M »— I— T-t -^ O^ O Oi '/D 00 
Ol Oi Oi C;;^--J*_'-t Oi G^ O '^D 
irT^'-^OfT'-rt-rr-I^iO o' t-^ 



OOOaCOT-t'^0»aCsiO 

O»0»005'-'C0<I0*C000 

CD'tH o"r-rcO~CD lyS'^^Oi 
r-l05^0C0O06c0C0aDrH 



r-l (M O OJ GO r-( .-» 
t— -rf .C Tt* OO O O 



03 d 

n a 
'p'o 



=4 3c 



— 3 S O ^0) ^ ^D 



PRINCIPAL DISEASES. 77 



SECT. IX.— PRINCIPAL DISEASES. 

If any one supposes that the South is a paradise, 
where sickness and son'ow find no place, he is mistaken. 
"We are all of the earth, earthy, and more or less liable to 
disease. The South is not exempt. 

On the other hand, if any one supposes that the South 
is a hotbed of disease, generating, more than any other 
region, diseases foul, pestiferous, and incurable, he is equally 
mistaken. 

The South is as healthy as the North. There, reader, 
we assure you, is the result of forty years' observation, 
made by intelligent physicians in both sections of the 
country. 

Let the bills of mortality be produced, and we have no 
fears for the correctness of our statement. 

New Orleans is as healthy as Boston ; Charleston is as 
healthy as New York. 

We have the same miasmatic diseases here which pre- 
vail generally in the valley of the Mississippi, from Minne- 
sota to Louisiana. 

We have intermittent fever in its simple, inflammatory, 
and congestive forms ; remittent bilious fever, in the same 
varieties. We have also typhoid fever, with its self-limited, 
lingering peculiarities ; scarlet fever, which runs its course, 
as everywhere else ; and, in certain localities, as in New 
Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Savannah, and other seaports, 
we have had occasionally the yellow fever, which has long 
since become disarmed of its terrors by an enlightened 
medical profession. 

The scourge of nations — epidemic cholera — has never 
been so prevalent in the South as in the North and West, 



78 PEmCIPAL DISEASES. 

Whether this is owing to the wide-spread distribution of Jj 
silicious and loamy soils and subsoils of the tertiary formar ^ 
lion, holding " freestone water," or to some other cause, 
we will not say. But the fact is historical and worthy of 
notice, that throughout the larger part of the area of the 
Southern States cholera is unknown. 

With regard to constitutional diseases, such as con- 
sumption, rheumatism, and the various forms of scrofula, 
a man is certainly as safe south of the pai'allel of 35° as he 
is north of it ; and in reference to local, irritative, and in- 
flammatory affections, we know, from personal observation, 
that Mississippi is healthier than Indiana, 

Acclimation. — The whole mystery of acclimation is 
simply this : let a new-comer obey the laws of health, and 
he will escape ; let him violate these laws, and he will suf- 
fer the penalty. 

If, forgetting the dictates of reason and the promptings 
of refined emotion, he yield himself to animal impulse, eat 
and drink like the brute that fattens for the slaughter-pen, 
he deserves to pass through the fiery ordeal of fever. 

If, on the other hand, he inquire into the laws which 
regulate the presei-vation of health and the prevention of 
disease, and submit himself, body, soul, and spirit, to the 
obedience of these laws, immunity is the result. 

Let him avoid night air, malarious swamps, big suppers, 
and the whiskey bottle ; let him keep in the shade as much 
as possible from ten o'clock a. m. to three p. m. ; let him 
shun all barbecues, midnight balls, and masquerades ; let 
him learn to subdue his passions and improve himself in mo- 
rality , and, our word for it, if he possesses a good constitu- 
tion as a basis of operations, he will pass along unscathed. 

It is a popular idea that the immigrant must have the 
acclimating fever. This idea is erroneous. Many of our 



PRmCIPAL DISEASES. 79 

acquaintances from tlie North and West have resided here 
for fifteen years past, enjoying almost uninterrupted health, 
and entirely escaping the inaugural disease. 

Many escape unhurt during the first year, and are taken 
down the second season. They allow disease to accumu- 
late in their systems for twelve or eighteen months, and 
then it manifests itself in the form of a bilious fever. To 
all such our advice, already given, is specially applicable. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 



SECTION I. 

SELECTING A PLANTATION — CLASSIFICATION OP FARMS — PRICES 

EMPLOYING HANDS. 

If we attempt the classification of plantations, based 
on the single property of good land, we might dispose of 
the subject very readily by exhibiting the following grades : 

1. Good bottom plantations, which, upon careful culti- 
vation, yield from one to two bales per acre. 

2. Good upland plantations — fine table-land, with more 
or less creek bottom, yielding from one-half to one bale 
per acre. 

3. Second-rate upland plantations — land more undu- 
lating than No. 2, yielding fi'om one-third to one-half bale 
per acre. 

4. Poor hills, yielding from one-eighth to one-fourth 
bale per acre. 

The first, while in the woods and the cane, were sold 
before the war for prices ranging fi-om five to ten dollars 
per acre ; though fifteen or twenty years ago the same lands 
were bought by speculators as swamp lands for prices 
ranging from twenty-five cents to one dollar per acre. 

Good wild lands in the Mississippi bottom can now be 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 81 

bought for five dollars per acre. It must be noticed here 
that the best plantations, as to quality, are not always the 
most desirable localities. Tlius, for example, some of the 
richest alluvial lands in the Mississippi bottom are in the 
midst of a vast wilderness of cane, oaks, bears, and wild- 
cats. The man who is fond of a " lodge in some vast wil- 
derness " might be content, with a few companions and la- 
borers, in such a retreat ; and after he has cleared his plan- 
tation, and patiently waited for the coming of the second 
or third year, he will be richly rewarded for his labor. But 
he who wants good society, churches, schools, and all the 
conveniences of refined life, would not fancy such a location. 

Again, it is important that a planter should have a good' 
outlet. He might possibly find a rich place, above over- 
flow, but unfortunately surrounded by impenetrable swamps. 
Two bales to the acre might be made in theory, but not in 
practice. 

During the days of our " patriarchal institution " our 
wealthiest planters owned at least two plantations — the 
" home place " and the *' one in the bottom." The resi- 
dence, with all the comforts of life, was located on the 
former, and the detailed negroes, under an overseer, worked 
the latter. 

What changes may be brought about by the abolition 
of slavery we are not fully prepared to say. We presume, 
however, that the arrangements will not be quite so exten- 
sive, and the bales will not be piled quite so high. 

The best bottom plantations are those immediately on 
a river above overflow. Such locations are decidedly 
healthier than any in the interior of the bottoms. 

For a family residence and plantation we think the 
best table and creek-bottom land of the hill country is, 
upon the whole, more desirable — more especially when we 
4* 



82 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

take in view tlie social and moral advantages. Places of 
this kind, with respectable improvements, can be bought 
for prices ranging from fifteen to twenty-five dollars per 
acre. Second-rate upland places, more or less worn, but 
capable of good repair, can be had for prices ranging from 
six to twelve dollars per acre. 

There are four requisites for a good plantation : 1. Good 
soil, well diffused over land that cannot wash away, 2. 
Good timber and plenty of it. 3. Good water in abun- 
dance. 4. Contiguity to a good landing or depot. A 
man endowed with common sense will take all these things 
into consideration. By reference to Chap. IV., sec. 5, the 
reader will find that all the timber trees useful for building 
and fencing are found in our fore'sts. 

On all places not well watered there is one remedy — 
dig wells and pools. 

Employing Hands. — During the present year (1866) 
hands have been employed at various rates and upon vari- 
ous contracts. Most of the employed hands are the negroes 
formerly owned by the employers. These, together with 
our noble army of young men returned from the field of 
battle, constitute nine-tenths of the agricultural working 
force of the South. Some, preferring wages paid monthly, 
are receiving from eight to fifteen dollars per month and 
board ; but the larger portion are working upon contracts 
by which they are entitled to receive from one-half to one- 
third of the cotton crop — the employer agreeing to furnish 
the land, the working stock, and the farming implements; 
the employee agreeing to furnish his own food and cloth- 
ing, and pay his doctor's bills and taxes. We presume 
similar arrangements will be made hereafter. 

It is usually estimated that one hand will cultivate 
about fifteen acres — five in corn and ten in cotton. 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 83 

SECTION n. 

STOCKING THE PLANTATION — HORSES, MULES, FARMING IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 

Let us suppose that a man of moderate means has 
purchased or reated a small place, say two hundred acres ; 
and that he wishes to cultivate one hundred acres which 
are already cleared. Wliat stock, implements, and num- 
ber of hands does he need? We will try to answer the 
question by placing before the reader's eye a bill of items. 

4 horses or mules, at $150 $600.00 

4 turning ploughs 25.00 

4 broad shovels 25.00 

Plough harness 25.00 

1 wagon 80.00 

1 yoke oxen 100.00 

Axes, hoes, shovels, and spades 20.00 

Saws, augers, chisels, hammers, and sundry tools. 25.00 

Cross-cut saw , 10.00 

$910.00 

In addition to this bill, the new-comer will need corn 
sufficient to supply his wants from the first of January to 
September, when corn comes in, say three hundred bushels, 
which will cost him $300. The entire bill amounts to 
$1,200. 

To run this little plantation vdll require at least six 
good hands constantly in the field and two at the house, 
unless the latter can be supplied by a man's own family. 
If circumstances are favorable, our small planter will prob- 
ably make thirty-five bales of cotton and eight hundred 
bushels of corn. This will be a profitable business, reckon- 
ing cotton at thirty cents per pound. After paying off 
his hands, he can pay for his stock and unplements and 



84 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

meet all his family expenses for the year. He would then 
have his work stock and farming implements paid for, and 
corn in his crib sufficient for the next year. 



SECTION III. 

PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. 

It is proper to remark here that if the immigrant 
chooses to purchase a place in the woods, it will be im- 
practicable to plant cotton the first or second year. He 
must content himself with being a corn planter for two 
seasons, at the same time raising fruits and garden vege- 
tables. Cotton will not do well in new ground. 

Again, we may remark that many places need drain- 
ing on account of wetness. The advantages of draining, 
wherever it is needed, cannot be too highly appreciated. 
It not only carries off the surplus moisture, but warms 
the soil, pulverizes the land, promotes the absorption of 
fertilizing substances, enables the tap-root of cotton to 
penetrate into the subsoil and draw nourishment there- 
from, and, in few words, improves crops both in quantity 
and quality. It has also been demonstrated that highlands 
derive great benefit from drainage. It prevents surface 
washing, the falling water being rapidly absorbed and 
running to the ditches. It also prevents drought, by 
rendering the subsoil more permeable to water, and also 
by pulverization ; by deepening the soil ; by compelling 
the roots to strike downward at once and to prepare for 
drought; and by increasing the capacity of the soil to 
absorb moisture from the atmosphere. 

Fertilizing the Land. — Many of the old fields of the 
South, which may be marked " I. C." — Inspected and C(m- 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 85 

demned — can be restored to pristine vigor by careful fer- 
tilizing. If calcareous manures are needed, we bave marl 
in every variety — clay marls, stony marls, greensand marls, 
and shell marls, containing from forty to fifty per cent, of 
carbonate of lime, forty to fifty of silicious matter, irom 
five to ten of organic matter, with traces of iron and 
manganese, and other substances in very small proportions. 

If vegetable mould is needed, it can be easily obtained ; 
but the most convenient of all feiiilizers, and one which 
Southern planters have been using many years, is the 
cotton seed. We refer the reader to Chapter IX. for 
further remarks on this subject 

Rolling Logs and Cleaning up. — A cotton crop 
occupies the time and attention of the planter just one 
year. We ask the reader to accompany us to the field 
about the first of January. The hands are rolling logs and 
cleaning up. Some are setting fire to the big log heaps ; 
others are knocking down or pulling up the old cotton 
stalks and gathering them together to be burned. In 
another portion of the field, which has already been 
brushed off, an irregular procession of ploughs may be seen, 
and these useful tools, with a horse or mule at the beam, 
and a negro at the handles, have already commenced the 
work of bedding up. This is done by throwing from four 
to six furrows of the turning plough together. The num- 
ber of furrows required to make the bed depends upon the 
character of the land — poor land requiring fewer furrows 
than the rich alluvial bottoms, where the cotton plant 
spreads itself. As the time for planting approaches, these 
beds are reversed — that is, they are thrown back into the 
middles in the same manner that they were originally 
thrown up. This is styled " rebedding," and should not 
be done until very shortly before planting time. 



ot> CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

Hill-sides or undulating ground must be carefully 
circled, to prevent washing. This process consists in 
ploughing round the hills and undulations in such a man- 
ner as to have your beds nearly horizontal — say a fall of 
one inch to fifteen feet. Your cotton beds then are so 
many levees, which confine the water to the middles, from 
which it is gradually conveyed by means of the fall to the 
terminus of the rows, excepting that which is taken up by 
absorption or which is evaporated. We are now ready to 
consider the next step in this complicated work. 



SECTION IV. 

PLANTING, TIME WHEN — SELECTING SEED — QUANTITY TO THE ACKK — 

PLANTING BY HAND BY THE PLANTER THE COMING UP A GOOD 

STAND. 

The time for planting varies with the latitude. In the 
southern part of the Gulf States corn is planted in February 
and March, and cotton about the first of April ; but in the 
region lying north of the thirty-third parallel, com is 
planted in the latter part of March, and cotton from the 
middle to the latter part of April. 

Selecting Seed. — It is highly important to select good 
seed. Sound seeds have a greenish-black color, are plump, 
ellipsoid in shape, about half an inch in their larger diam- 
eter, and about a quarter of an inch in their smaller. When 
cracked by the teeth, they pop, and the internal substance 
is white and slightly creamy in color, yielding upon 
pressure more or less oil. If they do not present these 
tests upon examination, they are worthless for planting. 
You may give them to the hogs. 

Every thing being now ready, we proceed to deposit 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 87 

the seed in the ground. If your bed is rough and cloddy, 
an iron-tooth harrow naay be drawn over it. You then 
open your bed with a small plough or duck-bill colter to 
the depth of about two inches. In this farrow the seeds 
are sown by hand fi-om a sack or apron. The covering- 
block follows the sower. This is drawn by a mule driven 
by a negro. The apportionment of these hands is as 
follows : one to open, two to drop the seed, and one to 
cover. This plan is still adopted over a large portion of the 
country ; but of late years we have been introducing and 
using with great success the machine called the " cotton- 
planter," which, with one hand and one mule, will do the 
work of four hands and two mules on the old plan. The 
cotton-planter is simply a light but substantial fi'amework 
in which the various parts are adjusted as follows : The 
opener is introduced through the beam immediately in 
rear of the clevis-pin ; at a distance of two or three inches 
behind this comes a blunt, wedge-shaped piece of wood, 
the object of which is to smooth out the furrow made by 
the opener, and to prevent the dirt from falling in and 
filling it up. Then follows the revolving cylinder contain- 
ing the seed. This cylinder has small holes about an inch 
and a half in length and three-fourths of an inch in width, 
cut about every six or eight inches apart entirely around 
its middle circumference. The seeds drop through these 
holes into the furrow made by the opener, and are covered by 
a board which is placed immediately behind the cylinder. 

Under the old system of hand-dropping, three bushels 
of seed to the acre were necessary ; but upon the improved 
plan, a bushel or a bushel and a half is altogether sufficient. 

In a week or ten days after planting the seeds come up, 
and, under favorable circumstances, as thick as hops on a 
vine. In ten days more the young plant has attained a 



88 CULTIVAIION OF COTTON. 

height of three or four inches, and demands immediate 
attention. The planter thinks he has a good stand, but, if 
he be a man of experience, he knows that eternal vigilance 
is the price of cotton as well as of liberty^ 



SECTION V. 

TENDING THE CROP — BARRING OFF — SCRAPING CHOPPING OUT — HOEINO 

AND DIRTING AGAIN AND AGAIN GOOD SEASONS RAPID GROWTH 

THE FIRST BLOSSOM THE BOLLS ESTIMATED NUMBER ON A STALK 

TO MAKE A BALE TO THE ACRE LN THE GRASS AND OUT OF THE 

GRASS. 

The situation of the plant at this stage is sunply this : 
it is standing thickly set in the middle of a ridge or bed, 
surrounded by grass and weeds. Two things are neces- 
sary to be done, with as little delay as possible : the grass 
must be removed, and the cotton thinned out: to effect 
these important purposes, we start the hands with turn- 
ing ploughs to barring off. This is done by ninuing 
the bar of the ploughs lightly on each side of the row, 
and as near the cotton as convenient, so as to throw the 
dirt fi'om the plant. Immediately at the heels of the 
plough hands follow the hoes. These do the work of 
thinning. This consists of cutting out the cotton to the 
width of the hoe, or about twelve or fourteen inches, and 
leaving it in bunches of from three to six plants each. 
After the thinning, as soon as practicable, say in three or 
four days, the shovel ploughs come along and throw the 
dirt back to the cotton, covering up what young grass may 
have been left by the hoe hands, and affording a support to 
the young plant. This is called dirting or moulding. 
The hoes follow immediately after the dirting, and bring 
the cotton to a stand by chopping out the bunches, left at 
the previous hoeing, to one or two plants. 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 89 

We may remark in this connection, that many planters, 
instead of barring off with the turning plough, employ the 
scraper — a sharp-edged implement, somewhat plough-like 
in its appearance, which cuts away the grass from the 
cotton, and leaves it standing in the midst of a smooth, 
bald ridge. The ridge, after scraping, is liable to bake 
under the influence of the sun ; and as the roots of the 
cotton are now very short and tender, and require a 
pulverized soil, we believe the bamng-off process to be 
preferable. 

The subsequent cultivation may be varied according to 
the nature of the season. The ploughs, hoes, and sweeps 
will be used as they may be found best adapted to the 
condition of the crop. 

The latter implement is, Hke the scraper, of modern 
introduction. It resembles one of the hoes of a harrow, 
flanked with wide-cutting blades or wings, forming two 
sides of a triangle, and mounted on a beam ; is capable of 
sweeping the whole width of the row or the greater part 
of it at once, loosening the soil, and destroying weeds, 
vines, and every thing that does not require to be turned 
under and efiectually buried. It is a very efficient tool, 
and is employed with advantage, and especially in dry 
seasons, in keeping down tie vine {convolvulus, or morning 
glory), which, if not thoroughly done, is an after-source of 
great annoyance and damage. 

With favorable seasons the plant grows rapidly, more 
especially after the tap-root has penetrated deep into the 
soil. 

The first blossom is sought after with great anxiety. 
This is found at dift'erent dates in different localities, from 
the first of June to the fourth of July. The young bolls, 
surrounded by the squares or forms, appear upon the 



90 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

dropping of the bloom. In tlieir infant state they look 
something like a small, conical apple soon after its emer- 
gence from the germ state. In their full maturity they are 
as large as pullet eggs, still preserving their conical shape. 
From two to ten grow on a limb, and not unfrequently we 
have counted two hundred on a single plant. 

It is estimated that one hundred bolls of cotton will 
make one pound of cotton in the seed. Now allow that 
you plant your cotton in rows three feet and a half apart, 
and chop it out to eighteen inches in the drill ; this 
would give you on a square acre of ground sixty rows of 
cotton, with one hundred and forty plants to each row. 
Suppose that you pick on an average twenty bolls from 
each stalk, then every five stalks would furnish you with 
one pound of seed cotton, and every row with twenty-eight 
pounds. The sixty rows would furnish 28 x 60, or 1,680 
pounds of seed cotton, which will ordinarily make an 
average-sized bale. 

If in the month of July the crop is clean, blooms and 
bolls are loading the branches, and good seasons have 
cooperated with the planter's labor, he may, barring all 
future accidents, consider himself "good for a full crop." 
But if, on the other hand, he has neglected to cultivate 
the plant, supplying its wants and keeping off its enemies, 
with the best seasons that Heaven can send, he will inevi- 
tably find himself " in the grass ; " and how to get out of 
that grass is a problem the solution of which requires 
more labor, bigger drops of perspiration, and the extraction 
of more roots, than any thing in the department of mixed 
mathematics. Indeed, the problem may be thus stated : 

Given, sundry cotton rows, handsomely covered witli 
flourishing grass ; it is required to find the cotton. 

Still further, it is required to save the cotton by ex- 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 91 

terminating the grass. This is perhaps the most difficult 
part of the sohition, because the season has so far advanced, 
and all the circumstances are likely to be so untoward, 
that, not unfrequently, the planter after a few days' work is 
utterly discouraged, and reasoning as the fox did about 
the grapes, says in his heart, if not with his mouth, 
" The worm will get it anyhow, ifs no use to try any longer.'''' 
Then issuing his orders to all the hands, he leaves the 
grassy plain, and thus gets out of the grass. But it is not 
always so. Indeed, most of our planters get somewhat 
in the gi-ass every season, but by faithful " pegging away " 
get out and save their cotton. 



SECTION VI. 

LAYING BT OPENING OF THE BOLLS — A FINE SUCCESSION OP BAINS 

TOO MUCH RAIN DRY WEATHER. 

Laying hy is giving lip a crop to take care of itself. 
The last ploughing and hoeing constitute the laying by. 
This occurs at difierent dates according to different cir- 
cumstances. The planter should never lay by as long as 
he can materially profit his crop by working it. Some are 
detained in this operation as late as the first of August. 
After this the hoes may be of some service in removing 
grass and weeds that may have escaped former workings; 
but it is not expedient to use the plough, simply because 
the branches and bolls now crossing and lapping would be 
injured by the mules and swingletrees, and not because of 
any injury inflicted upon the roots. 

The bolls begin to open from the middle of July to 
the middle of August. This opening is caused by the 
separation of the valves of the capsule, and the concurrent 



92 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

expansion of the four internal cells containing the cotton ; 
and the process continues onward till winter. At first the 
cotton in the cells is a moist, pithy-like substance, but 
gradually, under the influence of the sun, assumes a dry, 
fibrous, woolly-like character, and hangs nodding from the 
pericarp ready to be gathered. 

Before we proceed to consider t;Jie subject of picking, 
we must say something about rains and dry weather. In 
the early part of the planting season, and indeed up to the 
opening of the bolls, light rains, " refreshing seasons," at 
intervals of eight or ten days, are very acceptable ; but 
after the opening of the bolls commences, lighter showers 
at longer intervals are altogether sufficient. Indeed, the 
only rain desired is just a sufficiency to keep the plant 
alive — to prevent its shedding its foliage to such an extent 
as to expose the young and partially developed bolls too 
much to the sun. Long-continued drought in June and 
July will cause shedding of the forms and may prove dis- 
astrous. After the middle of September, dry weather can 
do no material injury, but is rather advantageous. 

Heavy, drenching, long-continued rains are always 
more or less injurious. Should they occur when the cot- 
ton is young, it will be to a great extent drowned out, 
and the stand destroyed. The plant will also be much 
more liable to rust and sore-shm. Coming on later in the 
season, when the plant is covered with bolls and forms, 
heavy rains will cause what is known as the second growth. 
The plant will grow large and tall, its foliage will be dense 
and green, and the consequence is that a large part of the 
bottom bolls will be rotted, and the top bolls, from an ex- 
cess of sap, will fail to come to maturity in time to escape 
the blighting influence of fi'ost. 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON". 93 



SECTION vn. 

PICKING — AUGUST TO JANUARY GOOD AND BAD PICKING QUANTITY 

PER DAY PICKING BY MACHINERY FINGERS THE BEST MACHINE 

STORING AWAY THE COTTON QUANTITY OF SEED COTTON TO THE ACRE. 

Picking commences in the more southern part of the 
cotton region about the middle of July, but from the lati- 
tude of Montgomery, Alabama, at various dates from the 
middle to the last of August. The field is usually picked 
over about three times, and the season generally continues 
till late in the fall ; and we have often seen hands at work 
in the field till the close of the year. 

A few days before the commencement of the operation 
the big hamper baskets are prepared, each one holding 
from 75 to 150 pounds. These are placed at convenient 
distances in the field ; the hands are all ready, each one 
taking two rows, the haversack suspended from his neck, 
into which he deposits the locks of cotton. When the 
sacks are fall, the contents are emptied into the baskets, 
and the latter are moved up from point to point as con- 
venience may require ; and thus they move all day long, rest- 
ing for dinner, and at night bring home their baskets filled 
with the fleece of the plant. A good hand will pick two 
hundred and fifty pounds per day ; a moderate hand one 
hundred and fifty ; an inferior hand from seventy-five to 
one hundred. The cotton is weighed usually at noon and 
at night, and deposited in covered rail pens, from which it 
is subsequently hauled to the gin house. Should the cotton 
be picked damp, it will be necessary to sun it, which is 
done on a large scaffold or platform, erected immediately 
in front of and adjoining the gin house. For this reason 
the gin house should always front to the south. 

Several machines have been invented for the purpose 



94 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

of picking cotton ; and the advertisements in our papers, 
setting forth their superior advantages, remind us of the 
wonderful virtues of infalUble patent medicines. Up to 
this time, we have seen no machine equal to the fingers of 
a good stout, brisk negro. 

When a sufficient quantity of cotton has been picked 
and penned, it is removed to the gin house, and stored 
away carefully in the large upper chamber convenient to 
the gin stand. Here it lies till all things are ready, secure 
from all hurtful influence. 

The quantity of seed cotton to the acre varies, of course, 
with the quality of the land. The best bottom lands will 
yield from 1,600 to 3,000 lbs. ; the best highland places 
will make from 1,200 to 1,500 lbs. ; good second-rate high- 
lands fi-om 600 to 800 lbs. ; and poor hills ft'om 100 to 
400 lbs. In 1860 there were 8,000,000 acres under culti- 
vation, and something over 4,000,000 bales were pro- 
duced, or a half bale per acre as an average. Now, as it 
takes about 1,600 lbs. of seed cotton to make a bale, it 
follows that 800 lbs. of seed cotton was the average per 
acre in 1860. 



SECTION vm. 

GINNING AND PRESSING BALING. 

Forty years ago, in old Virginia, we saw the negroes 
picking the cotton seed from the fibre with their fingers. 
There was one man in the neighborhood who had a roller- 
gin stand, and he was considered ahead of everybody else. 
Whitney's gin had not yet been introduced, although em- 
ployed by Georgia planters for twenty years. It was in- 
deed a great invention, and deserves to take rank with the 
telescope and mariner's compass. The modem improve- 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 95 

merits upon Whitney have brought the machine to per- 
fection, and we now behold it doing the work which, fifty 
years ago, was performed by three hundred hands. 

The cotton gin now used is composed of a stand 
about six feet in width, inclosing a cylinder and brush, 
arranged horizontally, and running on iron axes in compo- 
sition metallic boxes. On the cylinder are arranged a series 
of circular saws, made of the best cast-steel plates, in seg- 
ments, or two parts. They are placed about one inch apart, 
and are so secured to the cylinder as to insure perfect accu- 
racy and uniformity of action. The teeth are very pointed 
and oblique, and are very carefiilly and smoothly dressed. 
Tlie cylinder, when put in motion by a band running on a 
trundle-head attached to it on one side of the stand, and 
by which it is connected with the running gear, revolves 
in such a manner that the teeth pass between a correspond- 
ing series of metallic grates, curved or bent so as to conform 
to the circumference of the saws, and placed in such a 
manner as only to permit the free passage of the teeth of 
the saw, together with the lint which it removes in its 
revolutions. The grates form one side of a movable hop- 
per, the breastboard or fall in front forming the opposite ; 
the hopper working on hinges at the bottom, by which the 
grates can be elevated above the saws as occasion requires. 

In its working position, the teeth of the saws pass 
through the grates and enter the hopper just so far as to 
take a proper hold on the cotton, with which it is kept 
supplied by raking it from the pile of seed cotton deposited 
on the top of the stand. 

In operation, the saws passing through the cotton cause 
it to revolve in the hopper, and form a roll from which the 
seeds, as the lint becomes detached, fall to the bottom, and 
are removed by means of a spout. 



96 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

In the rear of the cylinder, and in contact with it, is a 
circular brush of bristles supported on arms which, revolv- 
ing by means of the gearing with great velocity, compared 
with the revolutions of the saws, whips or brushes rapidly 
and completely from them the lint or fibre drawn through 
the grates. The velocity with which this fan-like brush 
revolves causes a strong draught of air through the aper- 
tures in the stand, which wafts the lint in hght flakes 
through a flue to the lint room, made close and tight for its 
reception. The flues are constructed with a false floor of 
slats, between which much of the false seed and trash, 
which may have passed through the grates with the lint, 
falls in passing to the lint room, and the cotton is thus 
freed from these impurities. 

A good sixty-saw gin will gin five or six bales a day ; 
but the average performance, where care is taken to make 
a good article, is not more than three bales. 

From the lint room the cotton is taken to the press. 

The boxes in which the cotton is pressed in packing, 
are made of wide three-inch plank, and are four and a half 
feet long and twenty-two inches wide, securely keyed 
together, and having side doors hinged on the ends to take 
out the bales when pressed and tied ; the top and bottom 
of the box, either of which is called the follower, as the 
pressure is applied from above or below, according to the 
construction of the press, are made of similar timber, with 
seven grooves at regular and corresponding, distances, 
through which to pass the ties. 

Preparatory to making the bale, a piece of bagging of 
suitable dimensions is spread on the bottom of the box. 
A proper quantity of cotton being packed or trodden in, 
another piece of bagging, of sufficient size to complete the 
covering, is laid on, the screw or lever is put in motion, 



CULTITATIOlSr OF COTTON. 97 

and tlie follower ascends or descends into the box, as the 
case may be, to the edge of the side doors, %yhich are then 
thrown open ; the ends and edges of the bagging are gath- 
ered together and stitched with twine, and the ropes passed 
throngh the grooves and tied. The movement of the screw 
or lever is then reversed, the pressure removed, and the 
bale taken out. Instead of rope, hoop iron is used to a 
great extent by our planters. They are coated with paint 
to prevent rust, and are fastened by means of rivets passed 
through holes punched at proper distances. It is be- 
lieved by many that the hoop iron will, in a few years, 
entirely supersede the use of rope. 

The motive power, in most of our gin houses, consists 
of four mules, hitched to a horizontal lever, passing through 
a vertical shaft, upon which is constructed the large central 
cog-wheel. Tlie cogs are made to play into a wallower or 
vertical spur-wheel, on one end of a horizontal shaft, to the 
opposite end of which the band-wheel is attached ; a gum 
band, about a foot in width, connects this with the trundle- 
head of the gin stand, and puts the machinery in motion. 
On some plantations steam is used instead of horse power. 

Bales are put up so as to weigh about 500 lbs., though 
the commercial bale is estimated at 400. After being 
marked and numbered, the bales are hauled in wagons to 
the most convenient depot, from whence they are shipped 
to market. 

SECTION IX. 

THE MARKET. 

Cotton is usually consigned to a merchant in a city or 
large town ; and the planter can use his discretion about its 
sale. He may instruct his merchant to sell immediately,. 
5 



08 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

or wait for a higher marhet. He may allow him to use his 
own judgment, or give him special instructions, limiting as 
to time and price. 

The merchant or factor takes the cotton, stores it away 
m his shed, takes samples, and goes out in search of a 
buyer. After receiving several bids from various brokers, 
he finally closes down on one at a stipulated price per 
pound. The cotton is weighed, the calculation made, 
the money paid to the merchant ; the merchant settles 
with the planter, charging him for storage, commission, 
drayage, repairage, weighing, and insuranc"e. 

In addition to all these charges we now pay, " by con 
straint, not ^villingly," the ■ government tax of three cents 
per pound. This tax we will consider in another chapter. 

The whole expense on a bale of cotton, from the time 
it leaves the planter's depot until it is sold to a broker, 
may be estimated as follows : 

Freight (say 40 miles) $2.00 

Drayage.. 50 

Storage 50 

Eepairage (probably) 25 

Weighing 25 

Insurance 1.00 

Commissions 4.00 

Government tax 15.00 

Total $23.50 



GRADATION OF QUALITY A^fD PRICES. 

There are three primitive classes of cotton, viz., ordi- 
nary, middling, and fair; but factors and brokers have 
made so many wool-splitting distinctions, that we are com- 
pelljtd to recognize all their divisions and subdivisions. 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 



99 



We presume the following would be regarded as an ex- 
haustive classification : 



Primitive Class. 

1. Ordinary. . . 

2. Middling , . . 



Suidimsions. 



Prices supposed. 



3. Fair 



Low ordinary 25c. per 

Ordinary 27c. 

Good ordinary 32 c. 

Low middling 34c. 

Middling 36c. 

Good middling 40c. 

Middling fair 44c. 

Fair 48c. 

Fine fair 50c. 



lb. 



It is a very easy matter for us to see the difference be- 
tween low ordinary and middling, or between middling 
and fine fair; but the art of discriminating by a glance of 
the eye, so as to determine with precision where middling 
ends and good middling begins, belongs to the f^ictor and 
broker ; and they have it in their special keeping, often 
agreeing and often disputing. 

We have witnessed some of these disputations, much 
to our amusement and greatly to our moral training. The 
factor and -broker preach from the same text, but their 
sermons -are widely divergent. The text is this : Self-in- 
terest is a primary principle of human nature. The factor 
unrolls his specimen or sample, and says, " Here, Brother- 
Broker, I want to sell you a good bargain this morning. 
Look at that sample of middling." 

" Middling, indeed ! " responds the broker : " I call that 
low middling." 

" I don't see it," says the factor. 

*' I don't see that it is middling," responds the broker. 
" However, how many bales have you ? " 

" Twenty," answers the factor. 



100 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

" What will you take ? " 

" Thirty-six." 

♦' Can't give it." 

" What will you give 1 " 

" Thirty-four." 

" Can't take it." 

" I'll split the difference and give you thirty-five." 

" Take it. Write out your draft quick ; I'm in a hurry." 

" Just wait, my friend, tiU I see the twenty bales, and 
have 'em weighed." 

A laugh and a joke close the conference ; but before 
night the transaction is closed. The cotton changes hands, 
and the broker ships it as soon as possible to New York or 
New Orleans, and " realizes " — perhaps a profit, perhaps a 
loss. 



SECTION X. 

THE SUCCESSFUL PLANTER — EXPERIMENTS MADE BT NORTHERNERS IN 
1866 — A SENSIBLE VERMONTER. 

The successful planter is a man who must possess a 
certain kind and degree of intelligence and executive 
ability. He may be a learned man, or a very illiterate 
one. Tlie learning is not objectionable — indeed, on many 
accounts, very desirable ; but much learning will not make 
cotton unless the possessor applies it properly to practice. 

Some of our best planters are well-educated men. Some 
of our best-educated men are poor planters, and some of 
the most successful planters in the country are the most 
illiterate. Hence, we infer a man must have cotton-plant- 
ing sense. He must have sound common sense, good 
perceptive faculties, strong animal energy, indomitable 
perseverance, good governing faculties, and an all-con- 



CULllVATIOiSr OF COTTON. 101 

queritig will. He must be trained in the school of experi- 
ence. He must know " the times and the seasons " of the 
cotton plant. He must study its wants, watch its growth, 
notice its developments, and give direction to his hands to 
work precisely in accordance with his orders. 

A kind Providence has placed all things under law. 
All the ordinances of Nature are the laws of God. If man 
obeys them, he will be blessed in natural advantages and 
privileges. If he disobey, he will sutler punishment. And 
all this natural administration of affairs is entirely independ- 
ent of moral character. True, the moral and the natural 
do not come in conflict ; they are hannonious, coming 
from the same Authoi'. But we mean that moral goodness, 
disregarding natural law, will never make a cotton crop ; 
and still further, that well-directed industry, conforming to 
the laws of cotton grovrth, will make a cotton crop, whether' 
the planter be a saint or a sinner. 

We are strong advocates of natural as well as moral 
Providence. " God sends his rain on the just and on the un- 
just." He has ordained seasons, soils, climates, and zones 
of vegetation. He has endowed men with the capacity to 
study the history, habits, wants, necessities, and demands 
of every plant on the globe, and to determine their respec- 
tive utility. 

If man's labor harmonize with Nature's ordinances, the 
labor will prove a success. If the labor come in collision 
with Nature, it must prove a failure. Oranges cannot be 
cultivated in the fi'igid zone, and the polar bear cannot be 
tramed to live in the torrid zone. Nature forbids it. So, 
too, with regard to our mighty and influential plant. It 
must be treated in accordance with its nature. It must be 
planted and cultivated in a soil and under a climate 
adapted to its physical constitution ; and he who dares to 



102 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

violate the laws which govern the planting and culture of 
cotton, will find himself the loser. 

Many of our " Northern fiiends " have made experi- 
ments among us during the present year, in raising cotton. 
So far as we have learned, nearly all of them are " in the 
grass,^'' with little hope of recoveiy. They trusted too 
much to their own wisdom, and to the "intelligence and 
faithfulness" of their colored friends. Very few of them 
will be able to " make buckle and tongue meet," and many 
of them will come out in debt. 

We heard of one sensible Vermonter. He came all the 
way down from the Green Mountains, and selected a river 
plantation, stocked it well, and hired a good, practical 
overseer or superintendent — a man who was born and 
raised in the country, and has made cotton for nearly 
twenty years. He paid him a large price — perhaps |2,000 
a year to attend to his place — returned to Vermont and 
attended to his home business. He has a fine crop, and 
will make money. 

In this case the real planter — the one recognized by 
Nature and by the cotton — is the overseer or superintendent, 
who with ceaseless vigilance " makes every thing move 
about him like clockwork " from daylight to the going 
down of the sun. 



SECTION XI. 

THE LABOR QUESTION CAN THE WHITE MAN LABOR IN THE COTTON 

FIELDS ? now DO THE FREEDMEN WORK ? HOW WILL THE TWO 

CLASSES WORK TOGETHER ? WHAT IS THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE 

FREEDMEN ? COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF FREE AND SLAVE LABOR. 

To the first of these questions we give an unhesitating 
afflmaative answer, but it will require some explanation. The 
man unaccustomed to labor cannot stand the cotton field. 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 103 

He may, possibly, train himself to it gi'adually, but tbe 
chances are against him. The white man, fresh fi-om the 
North right in the heat of summer, cannot endure the labor ; 
a few days' working will lay him up for the balance of the 
season. But the white man who has been raised to labor, 
more especially one who has been raised in the country, 
can endure it. Our young men who returned from the 
army, laid down the sword and the gun, and took up the 
plough and the hoe — they have found themselves to be 
as able in the cotton field as they were on the field of 
battle. They have laid hy their crops, and will be soon 
ready for picking. They have been blessed with an 
ordinary share of health, and indeed bid fair to make 
splendid laborers. 

Our " Northeni brethren " also, as far as capacity for 
labor is concerned, appear to be doing nobly. They tug 
and toil, and pour out their sweat in copious streams over 
their small cotton and big grass, and demonstrate their 
physical manhood in a most satisfactory manner. 

The laboring foreigner, too, is coming in and joining 
the great congregation of workers, — the German, the 
Frenchman, the Irishman, the Englishman, the Scotchman, 
the Swiss, and the Italian. 

With proper care and prudence, the Caucasian accus- 
tomed to labor can work in the cotton field, though • he 
cannot stand it as well as the negro. About one-third of 
the present laborers are white, the balance blacks. 

In answering the second question, How do the freed- 
men work ? facts alone must be our guide. We answer 
very briefly, and without any hesitation, when left solely 
to themselves, they do precisely as all the race have done 
who have gone before them. They sink down into idle- 
ness, filth, disease, and death. The report of Generals 



104 CULTIVATION OF COTTON, 

Steedman and Fullerton, made during the past summer, is 
very satisfactory on this point. It is simply a second edi- 
tion of McKenzie's " St. Domingo," in respect of the moral 
and industrial status of the negro, and his gradual descent 
from slavery, through freedom, to the grave. 

On the other hand, we state with pleasure that wherever 
the negro has" been controlled, put to work, compelled to 
work by contract, and has had the superintendence of a 
competent white man, he does well ; the nearer he has been 
made to approach his oldj)ositiQn of a slave, the better he 
has labored, and we believe it will always be so. The 
course of the late Congress, more especially in conferring 
civil rights upon the negro, is well calculated to arouse the 
worst fears of the Southern planter. The inevitable 
tendency of all their measures is to establish vagabondism, 
pauperism, pest-houses, crowded hospitals, walking nui- 
sances, larceny, pillaging bureaux, negro effeminacy, epi- 
demics, desolation, death. The end of these things is the 
extinction of the poor Africans, and the grand jubilee of 
their destroyers. May God stop them in their mad career ! 
May a wise policy prevail, and may the freedman by ju- 
dicious legislation of the State in which he lives, and the 
kind yet rigid discipline of his employers, live long in the 
land, and prove himself a useful laborer ! We cannot well 
give him up. We can do better for him than any of his 
new friends. We know his wants, his washes, his capacity ; 
and, as we have accepted the abolition of slavery as a 
fixed and unalterable fact, we are now paying him for his 
labor, and endeavoring to allow him to work out his own 
salvation by our sincere cooperation. 

We ask protection from the government. What is it ? 
We ask " to he let almiey This is all the protection we 
■want. Shall we have it ? The future of the freedmen, then, 



CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 105 

may be thus stated : If the radical poUcy is carried out, 
they will degenerate and become extinct : if union 
measures prevail, just the very reverse of the radical policy, 
they will live, flourish, increase, and contribute by their 
labor to the wealth of the country. 

In this connection we present the following remarks of 
Hon. J. W. Clapp, of ISIississippi, made at the close of a 
valedictory address to the Trustees of the University of 
Mississippi, last July • 

" The plan which would seem to be dictated alike by 
policy and true philanthropy is, that the two races here in 
the South should be left, without the surveillance and 
intermeddling of a third party, to work out together their 
respective destinies, and for each one to adapt itself to that 
level where the great law of moral gravitation will sooner 
or later inevitably place it. This plan, it is conceded, is, 
like every thing human, liable to abuse, and may give rise 
to instances of hardship and injustice; but if the two 
races are to live together, it is the only feasible mode by 
which collision and conflict can be avoided, the capacity of 
the negro for labor utilized, and he be rendered a compara- 
tively respectable member of the community. 

" But as the probability is that the policy adopted by 
the law-making power at Washington will be adhered to, 
by which the negro will inevitably become more and more 
unreliable and inefficient as a laborer, prudence, if not an 
imperative necessity, require that we should, in view of 
this contingency, make systematic and persevering efforts 
to fill up the channels of industry from other sources, and 
with those of our own color who can be assimilated and 
identified with us as a homogeneous element both of pros- 
perity and power ; treating the negro in the mean time 
with humanity and kindness, encouraging his mental and 
5* 



106 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 

moral culture, and extending to him without stint or 
grudging all the rights to which he is properly entitled in 
his new condition, but at the same time preserving with 
jealous pertinacity a social barrier between him and us 
that shall be impassable and perpetual, for upon this 
depends our preservation as a people from a fate more 
deplorable than extermination itself." 

We sincerely hope that the apprehension expressed by 
the distinguished speaker will not be realized, and that the 
thunder is now preparing which will break in terrible fury 
on the heads of the traitors who have been trying to 
establish a despotism upon the ruins of the republic. 

Let us hope for the best, labor and wait ; and the time, 
we trust, will soon come when our labor will not be in 
vain. 



CHAPTEE YI. 



PKODUCTION AND EXPORTS OP COTTON — EEMAEK8 ON THE 
GOVERNMENT TAX. 



SECTION I. 

PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS OF COTTON — STATISTICS — GREAT DEMAND FOB 
AMERICAN COTTON IN ALL THE MARKETS OP THE WORLD. 

We propose now to notice the production of cotton in 
the Southern. States for sixty years of the present century ; 
to show the exports to all the great foreign marts for the 
four years beginning 1854 and closing 1857, as a probable 
average annual amount for twenty years preceding 1861 ; 
the shipments from Southern ports for one year (Sep- 
tember 1, 1857, to September 1, 1858), as a fair sample of 
annual shipments for the same period ; and lastly, the 
importations into England for six years, 1848 to 1853, 
from the United States and other cotton countries of the 
world. 

The following table shows the quantity of cotton 
produced in the cotton States of the South, with the 
value of the same, from the year 1801 to the year 1860, 
inclusive : 



108 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS OF COTTON. 



YEAR. 



1801.... 

1802.... 

1803.... 

1804.... 

1805... 

1806.... 

180T. . . . 

1808. . . . 

1809.... 

1810.... 

1811.... 

1812. , . . 

1813.... 

1814. , 

1815. 



Crop, 
lbs. 



48,000. 
55,000. 
60,01)0. 
65,000, 
70,000, 
80,000, 
80,000,' 
75,000; 
82,000. 
85,000; 
80.000, 
75,000; 
75,000, 
70,000, 
100,000. 

1816 |124,000. 

1817 Il80,00a 

1818 1125,000 

1819..... 1167,000. 

1820 [160,000 

1821 il80,00a 

1822..... 210,000; 

1823 185,000 

1824 215,000 

1825..... 225.000, 
1826... .246,000, 
1827..... 270,000, 

1828 825,000; 

1829 365,000; 

1830 350,000; 



,000] 44 

,000 22 

,000 21 

,000 24 

000 26 

,000 1 25 

OitO; 24 

000 17 

000 17 

000, 17 

000 lf4 

000 1 9i 
000, lOJ 
,000 8J 
000 ' 20 
000 30 
,000 24 
000 30 
,000 25 
000 17 
000 16 
000 19 
000 14 
000 15 
000 16 
000 13 
000 14 

000 n 

000 10 



21,100,01)0 
12,100,000 
12,600,000 
15,600,000 
18,200,000 
20,000.000 
19,200,000 
12,700,000 
13,900,000 
14,400,000 
12,400,000 
7,100,000 
7,500,000 
5,600,000 
20,000,000 
37.200,000 
31,200,000 
37,500,000 
41,200,000 
27,200,000 
28,800,000 
39,900,000 
25,900,000 
32,200,000 
36,000,000 
82,000,000 
87,800,000 
85,700,000 
86,500,000 
81,500,000 



YEAR 



1831... 

1832.. 

1833... 

1834... 

1885... 

1S36... 

1837.. 

1838... 

1839... 

1840... 

1841 . . . 

1842... 

1843... 

1844... 

1845... 

1846... 

1847... 

1848... 

1S49 .. 

18.50... 

1851... 

1852... 

1853... 

1854... 

1855... 

1856... 

1857... 

1853... 

1859 . . . 

1860... 



Crop, 
lbs. 



385,000,( 

390.00(),( 

44.5,000,( 

460,000,( 

550,000,( 

570,000.( 

720.000,( 

545,000,( 

870,000,( 

654,000,( 

673,000,( 

943,000,( 

812.000,1 

958,000,( 

&40,000,( 

710,000,( 

940,000,( 

1,000,01 10, ( 

860,000,1 

890,000,( 

1,300,000,( 

1,400,000.( 

1,300,000,( 

1,200,000,( 

1,550,000,( 

1.30o,000,( 

1.400,000,1 

1,750,000,( 

2,200,000,1 

1,650.000,( 



000 


9 


000 


9 


000 


11 


000 


12 


000 


16 


000 


16 


000 


14 


000 


10 


000 


14 


,000 


8 


000 


10 


000 


8 


000 


6 


000 


S 


000 


6 


000 


8 


,000 


10 


000 


7* 


,000 


6* 


,000 


11 


,000 


11 


000 


8 


000 


9 


000 


ss- 


,000 


9 


000 


9 


000 


12* , 


000 


m 


000 


11* 


,000 


Hi 



34,600. 

35,100 

48,900, 

55,200, 

88,000. 

91,200 

100,800, 

54,500, 

121,800, 

62,300, 

67,300, 

76,300, 

48,300, 

76,600, 

50,400, 

50 800, 

94,000, 

80,000, 

5.5,900, 

108,900, 

1*},000, 

112,000, 

117,000 

105,000. 

139,500, 

117,000, 

175,000 

199,000. 

247,500, 

198,000. 



000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
000 
,000 
,000 
000 
000 
,000 
000 
,000 
,000 
000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
000 
000 
000 
,000 
000 



The following table presents the quantities of cotton 
exported from the United States to the principal commer- 
cial c^ntries for the years named ; 



COUNTRIES. 



Great Britain 

France 

Spain 

Hanse Towns 

Belgium 

Austria 

Italy 

Eussia 

Mexico 

Holland 

Sweden and Norway 

British N. A. possessions 

Denmark 

Cuba 

Portugal 

Elsewliere 

To all countries 



696,247,047 

144,428,360 

35,024,074 

87,719,922 

13,980,460 

14,961,144 

12,72.5,830 

2,914,954 

12,146,080 

6.048,165 

9,212,710 

72,790 

32,983 

250,633 

121,059 

1,946,895 



673,498,259 

210,118,909 

33,071,795 

80,809,991 

12,219,5.53 

9,761,465 

16,087,064 

44S,897 

7,527,079 

4,941,414 

8,428,437 

833,204 

209,186 

9,620 

144,006 

270,822, 



892,127,988 

221,767,611 

68,479,179 

62.066,653 

23,171,784 

6,034,452 

20,a54.s67 

4,643,384 

6,010,395 

13,096,530 

17,289,637 

4,1.58,530 

1,163,081 

4,960 

388,393 

20,169,267 



6^3,907,972 

174,234,678 

45,557,067 

44,902.760 

12,247,423 

7.614,593 

17,239,859 

81.933,.534 

7,958,638 

10,434,227 

10,038,095 

857,490 

1,176,366 

2,000 

56,4i« 

81,335 



987,888,106 1,008,424,701 1,351,431,701 1,048,282,475 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS OF COTTON. 



109 



The following table shows the ^ipraents from Southern 
ports for the year September 1, 1857, to August 31, 1858 : 



FROM. 


To 
Great Britain. 


To 
France. 


To North- 
ern Europe. 


Other For- 
eign Ports. 


Total. 




1,016,716 

265,464 

83,933 

25,771 

149,;i46 

192,251 

495 

164 

995 

110,721 

14,110 


236,596 

89,887 
1,689 

7,876 
85,503 

12,951 


116,304 
21,462 
14,716 

7,680 
88,126 

20,808 
1,549 


125,454 
10,219 

8,800 
88,524 

8,841 
4 


1,495,070 


Mobile 


887,032 


Texas 


50,338 


Florida 


25,771 


Savannah 


167,702 
299,404 








495 




164 


Philadeliihia 


995 


New York 


147,821 




15,663 








1,809,966 
1,428,870 


884,002 
413,357 


215,145 
245,798 


181,342 
164,632 


2,590,455 


Preceding year 


2,252.657 


Increase . . 

Decrease 


381 ,0961 

1 29,355 


30,658 


16,710 


337,798 



The quantity absorbed by the home market in 1856 
was only about one-fifth of the entire crop — 770,739 bales 
of 400 lbs. each, or 308,295,600 lbs. This amount, worth 
about $30,000,000, was, by a moderate estimate, made to 
produce about five times the sum by the industry applied 
to its manufacture in the New England and Southern fac- 
tories. 

The following table shows the importations into England 
in the years named from the United States and the other 
cotton countries of the world. The quantity is stated in 
packages, each package containing 300 lbs. 



YEARS. 


American. 


Brazil. 


East India. 


Egyptian. 


West India, 
&c. 


Pactasea, 

totat 


1848 

1849 


1,375,400 
1,477,900 
1,184.200 
1,393,700 
1,789,100 
1,532,000 


100,200 
163,800 
171,800 
108,700 
144,200 
132,400 


227,500 
182,200 
807,900 
828,800 
221,500 
485,300 


29,000 
72,600 
79,700 
67,400 
189,900 
105,400 


7,900 
9,100 
5,700 
4,900 
12.600 
9,100 


1,740,000 
1.905,400 


1850 


1.749,300 


1861 


1,903,500 


1852 

1853 


2.857,800 
2,264,200 



Mr. J. B. Gribblc, of New Orleans, assuming that the 
average weight of packages of raw cotton to be, from the 



110 PEODUCTION AND EXPORTS OF COTTOJ<. 

West Indies, 173 lbs. ; Brazil, 181 lbs, ; Egypt, 306 lbs. ; 
East Indies, 385 ; and the United States, 440 lbs. ; tlien 
reducing all to bales of 400 lbs. eacb, arrives at this result : 
The product of the West Indies would be, for the year 
1856, 4,090 bales; Brazil, 5,500; Egypt, 86,445; East 
Indies, 445,637 ; and for the United States, 3,880,580, or 
nearly seven-eighths of the product of the world. 

The crop of 1860 was about 4,500,000 bales. Of this 
amount the home market took one-fifth, or 900,000 bales, 
leaving 3,600,000 bales for exportation. Of the amount 
exported. Great Britain took sixty per cent., or 2,160,000 
bales ; France, about 500,000 ; and the balance was dis 
tributed to the different states of Europe. 

The " London Economist," after tracing the progress 
of the trade ft'om 1838 to 1850, arrives at the following 
conclusions: That the supply of cotton from other sources, 
than the United States has been irregularly decreasing ; 
that, including the United States, the supply fi-om all quar- 
ters available for home consumption has of late years been 
falling off at the rate of 1,000 bales a week, while the con- 
sumption has been increasing during the same period at 
the rate of 3,600 bales a week ; that in the United States 
alone the growth is increasing, but limited there to about 
the same ratio as the increase of slaves, viz., three per cent, 
per annum ; that this is barely sufficient to supply the in- 
creasing demand for its own consumption, and for the Con- 
tinent of Europe ; and that consequently, if this branch 
of industry is to increase at all on its present footing in 
Great Britain, it must be by applying a great stimulus to 
the growth of cotton in other countries adapted to the cul- 
ture. The incapacity of other regions to supply the de- 
mand being shown, the Avriter looks to the British West 
India islands, and the African and Australian colonies, as 



PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS OF COTTON. Ill 

most likely to make up tte deficiency under encourage- 
ment from the British Government. 

From aU the facts before us it is plain that, in the lan- 
guage of a late wi'iter (" De Bow's Review " for August), 
" the South can defy the competition of the world in cot- 
ton growing.'' Whether " its former ascendency will be 
maintained and advanced under a system of free labor," 
remains to be seen. 

By consulting our first table (p. 109), it wiU be seen 
that, with the exception of a few bad crop years, there was 
a gradual increase of production from 1801 to 1861, rising 
from about 50,000,000 lbs. to 1,650,000,000 lbs., or from 
100,000 bales to upward of 4,000,000. 

What was the simple reason of this increase ? The in- 
crease of the laborers. In the year 1800 there were less 
than 250,000 slaves in the South. In the year 1860 there 
were 4,000,000. Now, suppose the government had never 
interfered with slavery, is it not reasonable to suppose that, 
with the gradual increase of the slave population, there 
would be an increase of cotton bales? Most assuredly. 
We venture the assertion that, inasmuch as the increase 
of the slave population from 1850 to 1860 was nearly one 
million, and the bales of cotton rose from 2,000,000 to 
4,000,000, the year 1870 would exhibit an increase of 
the same population, making the entire number at least 
5,250,000, and the number of cotton bales not far from 
6,000,000. 

Will free labor do as well ? If life is spared, we shall 
see. Some of our readers wUl have the privilege of watch- 
ing the progress of the new order of things. We sincerely 
hope, for the good of the country, that it may prove a suc- 
cess. We confess, however, that we are thoroughly and un- 
changeably pro-slavery, and every day confirms us in our faith. 



112 REMARKS ON THE GOVEENMENT TAX. 



SECTION II. 

REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

We propose, in this section, to consider the probable 
consequences of the late law of Congress, taxing raw cotton 
three cents per pound. 

It is a law of trade, that the great markets of the world 
control and regulate the less. Liverpool is the great mar- 
ket of the world for cotton, and Liverpool prices will, con- 
sequently, regulate the prices of that article in all other 
markets. The three cents per pound tax on cotton in the 
United States cannot in any way aflfect the price of the ar- 
ticle in Liverpool, only so far as it may tend to diminish 
the supply from this country, and thereby increase the de- 
mand there ; but as there is a large and increasing supply 
thrown on the foreign market from the East Indies, China, 
Egypt, Brazil, and other countries, a diminution of the 
supply from the United States will surely stimulate the 
production of cotton in other countries. The vacuum pro- 
duced by the diminished supply from the United States 
would soon be filled by the stimulated industry of other 
countries; and we should lose the compensating advan- 
tages of an increased demand which would otherwise result 
from diminished production in this country. 

It is, therefore, clear that the whole weight of the tax 
falls on the producer of cotton in this country ; that it will 
operate as a bounty to stimulate the production of cotton 
in other countries, to the amount of the tax; and that the 
effect will be to drive the American planter from the cul- 
ture of cotton, unless it should command such a price in 
the foreign market as to make his labor remunerative, 
even with a discrimination against him of three cents per 



EEMABKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 113 

pound, and in favor of his competitors in foreign countries 
to that amount. It will be seen, therefore, that the law 
operates as a protection, to the amount of three cents per 
pound, to the production of other countries, against the 
competition from this country ; and that the law virtually 
imposes an enormous tax on our own citizens to build up 
the fortunes of the rival producers of foreign countries. 

It is wise in any government to so shape its legislation 
as to promote the prosperitj"^ and happiness of its people. 
Contentment, and attachment to the government, will be 
the result. Possessing the means, they will have the will 
to defend it against all aggression ; but partial laws, un- 
justly discriminating against one portion of the people, 
and in favor of another portion, wiU never faU to produce 
disquietude, and tend to alienate the affections of those 
aggrieved from their government. This fact has heen most 
painftilly illustrated by the terrible civil war through 
which we have just passed. 

When cotton commands thirty cents per pound, a tax 
of three cents per pound amounts to ten per cent, on the 
entire gross proceeds ; at twenty-five cents, the tax is 
twelve per cent. ; at twenty cents, it is fifteen per cent. ; 
and at ten cents, it is thirty per cent., or nearly one-third 
of the whole gross proceeds of the crop. Now, before the 
war, when cotton commanded from ten to twelve cents, he 
was considered a successful planter who realized six per 
cent, profit per annum upon the capital invested in its pro- 
duction. From this fact it will be perceived that cotton 
must bear an enormous price to enable the planter to realize 
any profit on his labor; and should the price decline ma- 
terially, his labor would not only cease to be remunerative, 
but he Avould certainly be ruined by the business, and to 
avoid this he would abandon the pursuit. 



114- EEMAKKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

What, then, let as inquire, would be the consequence 
to another great interest of the country ? There are in- 
vested in the manufacture of cotton, chiefly in the North, 
several hundred millions of capital. Suppose the produc- 
tion of cotton to cease in this country, or to be so reduced 
as not to supply our mills, then our spinners would have 
to resort to foreign countries for their supply. Could they 
do this, and successfully compete with the manufacturers of 
Europe, when, even now, with the raw material furnished at 
home at much less expense than it would cost them from 
abroad, they are unable to compete with foreigners, with- 
out the protection of the government by a high tariff"? 

Again : the machinery of this country, I apprehend, is 
not adapted to the manufacture of the short-stapled cotton 
of the East Indies, China, or Egypt, and, to engage in the 
manufacture of that cotton, would have to be materially 
changed or abandoned, and new machinery instituted. 
The increased expenditure necessary to effect either of 
these objects would be overwhelming ; which, added to the 
loss sustained by the lapse of time before the repairs of 
the old or the erection of the new machinery could be 
effected, would cause our manufacturers to abandon the 
business altogether. The vast capital invested would be 
partially if not wholly lost. Bankruptcy and ruin would 
overwhehn our " lords of the loom," Thousands and tens 
of thousands of operatives would be thrown out of employ- 
ment, and pauperism and crime would present their hag- 
gard forms throughout the land. 

Again : before the war, the cotton crop of the South 
was upward of 4,000,000 of bales of 400 lbs. each; say, 
4,000,000 bales, or 1,600,000,000 lbs. At thirty cents 
per pound, the value of this cotton would be $480,000,000 ; 
and even at the low price of ten cents, its value was 



KEMAEKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 115 

$160,000,000. This, however, is too low an estimate. 
The crop of 1860 was worth, perhaps, $200,000,000. 
This amount in value was exported, and even at ten cents 
per pound furnished our merchants and manufacturers, in 
supplies and exchanges, with $200,000,000. But at thirty 
cents, as we have seen (and much of it has been sold above 
that price), it yielded for those pm-poses $480,000,000. 
Suppose this great basis of exchange to be stricken away, 
not only would our "lords of the loom" be ruined, but our 
supply of domestic cotton goods being cut off, necessita- 
ting largely increased importations from abroad, w^ould in- 
crease the demand for exchange to the amount of such in- 
creased importations ; while the supply of exchange would 
be $200,000,000 less than at present. Our whole exports, the 
last fiscal year, if I recollect right, including cotton, reached 
but little over half the value of our imports ; leaving a bal- 
ance of trade against us of, say, $200,000,000, which must 
be made up in gold.. Take away the basis of exchange, 
furnished by cotton, and all the proceeds of gold from 
California and Australia together would be unable to meet 
the balances against us each year. The country would 
soon be drained of every dollar of its specie ; paper, with- 
out a specie basis to sustain it, would be our only currency ; 
and these paper promises to pay money, when known that 
there is no money to redeem them, would soon become 
utterly worthless. It is noi difficult to perceive the conse- 
quences. Our diminished exchanges and diminished credit 
would foi'ce diminished importations. Diminished impor- 
tations w^ould cause diminished revenue, and necessitate 
the levying increased internal taxes. Decreased exports 
would cause diminished importations, and our navigation 
interests would to that extent be crippled. The mercan- 
tile, the manufacturing, and the shipping interests, would 



116 REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

reel and totter under the shock ; and the government, with 
diminished revenues, and a pubhc debt of $3,000,000,000, 
likely to be increased by the allowance of unsettled claims, 
and the reckless legislation of Congress, must let its credit 
sink ; under which dreadful shock not only all the great 
interests of the country, but the government itself, will 
likely be involved in one common ruin. 

- It is objected by the South that the law in question is 
partial; that the agricultural productions of the North are 
not subjected to any such tax ; that the North, which is 
rich — and, by the immense spoils taken from the South 
during the war, made still richer — ^is not taxed upon its 
agricultural productions; while the South, plundered of 
thousands of millions of its property — its plantations, cities, 
and towns laid waste by fire and sword — is so poor that 
it is a struggle for the people to live ; and yet Congress, 
disregarding their crushed and ruined condition, has deter- 
mined to discriminate against them, and tax them more 
than the entire net proceeds of their labor. Crushed as 
the Southern people are, they have not lost their manhood 
and self-respect. All experience proves that it is danger- 
ous to trample too long on a proud and brave people. 
Sad, indeed, is the lesson on this point taught us by the 
late civil war. The white population of the South, includiug 
Maryland, Western Virginia, East Tennessee, Kentucky, 
and Missouri, at the commencement of the war, was about 
8,000,000. If we subtract from this the number of loyal- 
ists (so called) in those States, with the scattering men of 
that caste in other parts of the South, I think it not far 
from the truth to say we had 5,000,000 of white per- 
sons true to the Confederacy ; add these loyalists to the 
North, and it would swell the Federal population against 
us to at least 25,000,000, or five to one. In addition to 



EEMAKK8 ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 11 Y 

these, nearly 200,000 of our negroes were marshalled 
against us, as well as multiplied thousands from the vast 
tide of immigration from Europe that flowed in during the 
war. Yet this mighty power, with an established govern- 
ment, a regular army, a navy, machinery to manufactm'e all 
the appliances of war ; with the inexhaustible granaries of 
the West to feed their armies, and all the world open to 
their shipping, by which they obtained all the munitions 
of war necessary to keep a million of men in the field, was 
resisted for four years by 5,000,000 ! These 5,000,000, 
before the war, had no established government, no arniy, 
no navy, no treasury, but a meagre supply of arms and 
ammunition, and, by the blockade of their ports, were 
shut out from all the world. They had to create the ap- 
pliances of war ; from raw militia create and organize 
armies for their defence ; and yet, with all this disparity 
in men and means, they during four long years defended 
themselves with a valor and prowess scarcely equalled in 
the annals of history. Twice they carried the war into the 
enemy's country, and caused President Lincoln to tremble 
for the safety of his capital. The subjugation of these 
5,000,000 by 25,000,000, with their foreign enlistments 
and 200,000 negro soldiers added, cost the North, in killed 
and wounded, and in death by disease, not less than 
1,000,000 men, and not less than $4,000,000,000 of 
treasure. It has left the nation overwhelmed in debt, and 
produced a degree of demoralization in society the evils 
of which are incalculable. 

And what produced all this? The South loved the 
Union of their fathers. They were proud of and gloried 
in the names of the statesmen and heroes which they had 
given to the Union. They had studied political science 
under such masters as Washington, Jeflerson, Madison, 



118 REMARKS ON THE GOVEEXMENT TAX. 

Monroe, and Jactson, whom they had given to the nation 
as Presidents ; and they could boast of a Patrick Henry, a 
Randolph, a Pinkney, a Lowndes, a Calhoun, a Hayne, a 
McDufRe, a Clay, and a long line of illustrious statesmen that 
had adorned the annals of the country. They had more 
than borne their part in all the wars for the defence and 
for the maintenance of the honor of the country. Why, 
then, I again ask, did they, by secession, attempt to leave 
the Union ? I answer, because the North had, as they 
thought, unwarrantably intermeddled with their interests — 
interests secured to them by the constitutional compact. 
Because they saw the North treat with contempt an 
opinion of the Supreme Court, deciding the territorial 
question in their favor; and because the North had elected 
a President and CongTess pledged to carry out the policy 
of excluding them and their property from a participation 
in the enjoyment of the common property of the nation. 
They saw, or thought they saw, a fixed determination on 
the part of the North to deprive them of their rights, in 
violation of the compact of union ; and they attempted 
to withdraw the powers they had conferred upon an agent 
that was abusing its trust. For attempting this, the North 
waged war upon them. 

Now, we will not stop to inquire whether the South 
was right or wrong. There can be no doubt but that they 
thought they were right. They never would have left the 
Union which they loved, if they had not believed that the 
life, the soul of that Union was gone ; and that a dead, 
putrefying carcass, called " the Union,^'' only remained. 
The Union was only valuable because, while it existed 
according to the Constitution, it was the bulwark of our 
rights and liberties. See the deplorable consequences 
resulting from a policy that produced alienation from a 



EEMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 119 

government which we once loved. Never would the South 
have thought of adopting the painful alternative of seces- 
sion, or of abandoning the Union, had they not been 
alienated in their affections fi-om it by the violation of the 
constitutional compact, as they believed, by the majority 
who controlled the government. They had a firm convic- 
tion that there was a determination on the part of that 
majority to wrong and oppress them. The consequence 
was, secession of eleven States, and a long, bloody, and 
disastrous war. 

The South never desired more of the North than a 
faithful observance of the constitutional compact. And 
now, after all that has passed, give them their constitu- 
tional rights, and they will again be the most devoted 
fi-iends and defenders of the Union. Continue to deny 
them these, seek to humble and degrade them, impose on 
them mi equal burdens, tax them without allowing them a 
voice in the government, and you wiU again rouse the spirit 
of '76. You will keep alive and fan their resentments to a 
flame. They will be led to despise the government which 
they once loved, and, like oppressed Ireland, will watch 
with sleepless vigilance for a favorable opportunity to 
throw off the oppressor's yoke. 

The United States will be fortunate indeed should 
they escape war in the future with one or more of the 
great nations of the earth ; and should such war come, it 
will be much safer to have the good will of a brave people 
than their enmity. 

The South would not complain of a moderate tax on 
cotton, oncAvhich they could pay, provided the agricultural 
products of the North were taxed in the same propoition ; 
but they are unwilling that the rich North shall enjoy an 
exemption, which, in their impoverished condition, strug- 



120 REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

gling for their very existence, is denied them. Their State 
treasuries are empty, and must be replenished ; they have 
thousands of helpless widows and orphans, and maimed 
and crippled men to support ; and, owing to the ruin and 
desolation caused by a vandal enemy, those once in af- 
fluence are mostly reduced to poverty. All the business 
pursuits of life have been thrown into confusion by the 
destruction of their former organized system of labor. 
Half the negroes will not work at all, or, if they do, it is 
to no valuable purpose. Under these circumstances, it is 
not only unjust but it is heartless cruelty to levy a partial 
and enoi-mous tax on their chief means of support. This 
tax will operate peculiarly hard upon the poor negro. A 
large majority of the negroes engaged in planting have 
formed partnerships with their employers, and are to 
receive, in some cases, one-third, but in most cases one-half, 
of the crops. The industrious among them are struggling 
to make a " start in the world ; " but if they have to pay 
fifteen dollars tax on every five hundred pound bale they 
make, they will have little or nothing left, after defraying 
the enormous expenses of living the present year. Indeed, 
many of them will be left in debt. The result will be, 
dissatisfaction with their condition, and they will sink into 
discouragement. They will find the fancied boon of free- 
dom like the apples of Sodom, beautiful to the sight or in 
the imagination, but dissolving to ashes upon the touch. 
Will not our Congress do something to relieve them? 
Surely if they have no sympathy with or compassion for 
the suSfering whites of the South, they will do something 
to relieve their colored brethren. 

The intention of the framers of the Constitution was to 
form a Union founded on justice, and on equality of rights, 
privileges, and immunities among all the parties to the 



REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 121 

compact ; that of the benefits to be derived from the 
government, each State and tlie citizens of each State 
should be entitled to equal participation ; and that of the 
burdens of government, each State should bear its just 
proportion. Tbey also intended that if an immunity were 
allowed to the people of one State, the people of all the 
States should be allowed the same or a like immunity. 
In proof of this, we invite attention to a few clauses of the 
Constitution : 

1. " We the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure the 
public tranquillity, and to secure the blessings of libert}' to 
ourselves and posterity, do ordain and establish this 
Constitution." » 

Is the taxing of cotton, produced only in the South, 
Avhile the agricultural productions of the North are not 
taxed at all, doing equal justice, and calculated " to insure 
domestic tranquillity " ? 

2. " Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor- 
tioned among the several States, which may be included 
within this Union, according to their respective numbers." 

The British Government levied a tax upon the colonies,, 
while they were excluded from representati<jn in Parlia- 
ment. In opposition to this injustice, and in defence of 
the great principle that taxation and representation should 
go together, the Revolutionary War was fought. With a 
view to prevent this abuse of power on the part of Congress, 
in reference to '■Hhe several States of the Union,''^ and to 
secure equal justice in the levy of taxes, the last-quoted 
clause was inserted. 

From the fact that the right of representation and tho 
power of direct taxation are coupled together in the last- 
quoted clause, it is obvious that the intention of its 
6 



122 KEMAEKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

framers was to prevent the wrong of taxation without 
representation (imposed on the colonies by the British 
Government) from being perpetrated by Congress on any 
of the States of the Union. And when a direct tax should 
be levied by Congress, it was provided that it should be 
apportioned among all the States in a ratio proportioned to 
the population ; and that no discriminating tax should be 
levied on one portion of the people, or on one State, or one 
section of the Union, and not on another. 

3. " The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and 
provide for the common defence and general welfare of the 
United States ; but all duties, imposts, and excises, shall 
be uniform throughout the United States." . 

This clause fully sustains my views on the preceding 
clause, by requiring all duties, imposts, and excises, to be 
UNIFORM THROUGHOUT the United States. 

4. " No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
from any State." 

Cotton is almost wholly exported from the Southern 
States to find a market, and the above clause positively 
prohibits a tax on all articles that may be exported. 

5. " The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." 

That is, if under the Constitution the citizens of any 
State enjoy certain privileges, the citizens of all the States 
shall be entitled to enjoy the same. If the citizens o{ any 
State are allowed an immunity, the citizens of all the 
States shall be entitled to the sam£ immunity. How could 
Congress, if they had any regard for the Constitution 
which they were sworn to support, in view of the two last- 
quoted clauses, levy this unjust tax upon an ^'■article of 
export,^'' and grant an immunity from taxation to the agricul- 



REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 123 

tural productions of the North, while they tax enormously 
the chief agricultural product of the South ? 

From the views just presented, and from the clauses of 
the Constitution quoted to support them, I think that every 
candid mind must decide that the tax law referred to is 
clearlv and grossly unconstitutional, and therefore void. 

We will close this section by an appeal to the sense of 
justice which we hope still remains with a majority of the 
Northern people. We invoke the sympathies of our com- 
mon humanity, and call upon you to use your best efforts 
at the ballot-box, and by the force of public opinion to 
correct the evil of which we complain. In electing mem- 
bers of Congress, we implore you to select men who are 
worthy of the name of statesmen — men who understand 
the Constitution of their country, and whose sense of 
moral obligation will insure its faithful observance — men 
of pure morality, high-toned honor, lovers of their coun- 
try, their whole country — patriots who will zealously labor 
to promote justice, peace, good will, and prosperity through- 
out the whole country — men free from sectional hate, and 
a blind and frenzied fanaticism. It is useless to make any 
appeal either to the justice, the magnanimity, the mercy,, 
the wisdom, the prudence, or the patriotism of the ruling 
majority in Congress. I apprehend that it will require a 
larger intellectual microscope than any philosopher or 
statesman of the present day possesses to find much, if 
any, of those desirable qualities in the leaders who control 
the present Congress. But to you, the masses of the 
Northern people, to you who have not lost your senses. 
under the stupefying and maddening influence of a wild 
and frenzied fanaticism — you who love the Union of our 
fathers, and regard the Constitution as the bulwark of free- 
dom, the palladium of our safety, and the sheet-anchor of 



124 REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 

our hope, to you we appeal. Are you willing to utterly 
crusli and ruin a people by unjust and unconstitutional 
legislation, who have been robbed and plundered of nearly 
all they possess ? Could you see our once well-cultivated 
farms now changed into a gloomy, desolated waste ; our 
once well-stocked plantations, now almost entirely destitute 
of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, &c., and behold the 
lonely chimneys and charred remains of our once smiling 
cottages and stately mansions, sad mementoes of the past 
and reminiscences of happier days ; could you see the 
gray-haired sires and matrons bending under the weight 
of years, reduced to poverty by the ruthless hand and 
torch of the invader, toiling from morn to eve to sustain 
the helpless widows and orphans of their murdered sons ; 
could you see our whole people struggling as it were for 
life against the rolling surges of adversity, surely you 
would frown upon all attempts to further injure them. 
And as philanthropists and Christians, will you not mingle 
your sympathies with ours for the poor negro, who is now 
just entering on a new and untried scene of his being, and 
who needs, greatly needs the fostering care instead of the 
crushing power of the Government ? How is it possible 
that he can live and support his family at the present 
enormous price of clothing and provisions on one-third or 
one-half of the proceeds of his labor, pay his medical ac- 
counts, his State and county taxes, necessary contingent 
expenses, and ten, perhaps thirty per cent, of the value of 
his crop to the Federal Government, and have any thing 
left ? Is it for the interest of the country, either North or 
South, to keep this unfortunate race in poverty, and fill the 
country with pauperism and crime ? Surely not. And yet 
the tendency of this iniquitous and unwise tax law is to 
produce that result. 



KEMAKKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 125 

And now, in conclusion, I will only add, that I trust I 
have satisfactorily shown that the law in question is im- 
politic, unwise, unjust, cruel, unmerciful, and unconsti- 
tutional ; and I hope that all lovers of justice, all who are 
attached to their country and its institutions, and who de- 
sire to save the Government from committing political 
suicide, will rally to the rescue, hurl from the places they 
disgrace the incompetent, fanatical, and revengeful squad 
that are leading the country to ruin, and put in their stead 
statesmen — patriots who love their country, their whole 
country, and who will labor assiduously to heal the fester- 
ing wounds left by the late unhappy war, promote peace 
and good will, and conduct our beloved country on the 
high road which leads to glory, prosperity, and happiness. 



CHAPTER YII. 

MANUFACTtlKE OF COTTON. 

SECTION I, 
TEXTILE FABBI08. 

The various cloths used by civilized men for all the 
purposes of life are woven from cotton, wool, silk, flax, 
and hemp. Of all these materials, the greatest is cotton. 
Cotton cloth and cotton fabrics of every style are worn by 
men in all possible conditions of life. From infancy to old 
age cotton garments are indispensable ; and while silks 
and satins are both useful and ornamental, they always 
conceal the less costly article which is worn alike by the 
rich and the poor. 

The following list shows the different classes of cotton 
goods manufactured in this country and in Europe : Lin- 
seys, Osnaburgs, calicoes, ginghams, webbing, drills, ticks, 
duck, sheeting, shirting, jeans, denims, cottonades, flannels, 
Silesians, kerseys, laces, edgings, insertings, cambric, fringe- 
work, &c. It enters also into the fabrication of velvets, 
silks, satinets, broadcloths, and linen ; and to what extent 
art and science may carry its uses time aJone can tell. 



MANUFACTUEE OF COTTON. 12Y 



HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

A few remarks on tlie history of spiiraing and weaving 
machines will not be out of place. 

One hundred years ago James Hargraves invented the 
spinning jenny, in which eight spindles at first were set in 
a frame and made to spin as many threads at one operation, 
the ends passing fi-om the spindles thi-ough a fluted wooden 
clasp which was held in the left hand, and could be made 
to close upon the threads and hold them fast as it was 
moved to and from the spindles. Tlie number of spindles 
was afterward increased to eighty. Richard Arkwright 
soon afterward came forward with a new invention of spin- 
ning by rollers, the effect of which was to draw out the rolls 
as they came from the carding machines, and by the slight 
pull elongate and straighten the fibres left crooked or 
double in the carding. By combining several fleeces or 
card ends and passing them through together, and causing 
them to unite in one roll, a fleecy ribbon is obtained of 
great unifomiity, and by repeating the process the quality 
is still further increased. From this fine, uniform roll, 
Arkwright produced an even and firm thread, suitable as 
weir for the warp as the woof. About the year 1770 he 
built the first mill in which the machinery was run by a 
water-wheel. Factories were afterward rapidly established 
throughout England. The first machines for carding and 
spinning were made in the United States in 1786. The 
Beverly Company commenced operations in Massachusetts 
in 1787, and they succeeded in manufacturing cotton 
goods, but with very imperfect machinery. In 1788 the 
Providence (R. I.) Company commenced making homespun 
cloth, but their machinery was also imperfect, and they 



128 MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 

made slow progress. In 1790 the first Arkwright ma- 
chinery was set in operation, and a new impulse was given 
to the manufacture of cotton. From 1800 to 1815 the 
number of bales consumed increased from 500 to 90,000. 
Up to the year 1813 cloth was woven by the hand loom, 
and at this date about 100,000 operatives w^ere employed 
and 140,000,000 invested in the business. During this 
year Francis C. Lowell built a factory for about 1,700 
spindles, and furnished it with power looms for weaving. 
The first cotton mill in Lowell was erected in 1822; Tliirty 
years afterward twelve manufacturing companies were in 
operation there, whose mills, amounting to fifty-one in 
number, extended in a continuous line of about a mile. 
From that time to this mills have been on the increase in 
the New England States, and many have been erected lite- 
wise in the South and West, giving employment to thou- 
sands of operatives, contributing largely to the wealth of 
the country, and sustaining commerce with foreign nations. 



SECTION II. 

COTTON MANTJFAOTUEKS IN THE TJNTTED STATES. 

The table on page 129 shows the amount and valuation 
of cotton manufactured in the United States, with the re- 
ported number of mills, looms, and spindles, the variety 
of manufactured articles and their valuation, for the year 
1857. Not one-third of the mills, however, are reported, 
as will appear from the next table : 

The table on page 130 shows the total number of cot- 
ton establishments, according to the census of 1850, the 
capital employed, the cotton used, the hands engaged, and 
the value of the manufactured articles. 



MANDFACTDKE OF COTTON. 



129 



o oo o ooooooo oo 
o oo O" <oooo>oo<o oo 



o o o o 
cT cc'o' o" 
CO <o t- o 



o^ o o^ o^ o^ o o o^o 
cT o" cT cT o" cT o o uri" 

§t^000<000'^ 
r-l «0 O r-t i-H CO '^ii 



O OO O OOOOOOO OO 

O O O- O OOOOOOO o o> 

ooo^o^ o^o^o^oo^o^" ~~ 

o" cTo" o" o" o" o" cT cT o" 

O CD 00 O O O O O O" o 

o^oo(>»o. <o_t-^o_co_coo_ 

c^ irf" otT i-T co" co" t^ 

»0 00 iH rt 



o o 
o" o'o" 

O- O ip 



.fa "^ 



a B a 
J3 1: 






•S--tJ CUJ3=3 tJDOO-M 

55 =n o -a , •■ txiS — ?i a ^ CL3 



.2-^ 

*- SI 






'y 



bo a 

.9 ".s 

60 



a2:s. 



! 60 i: .il bo ^'.^ .2 

f .2 .s -g .2 s ^j* 



> a . 



m bc^'^ 

o n © o 

5 58S 






S « c' 



w .fc of of 

IbO^-bJbO^-g ^^ 

. - _ J .9 a o 

3 ja -S ^ t- M to 
i»i-) [kC< oo 






o oo o OOOOOOO oo 
o oo o OOOOOOO oo 



I 



o o o_ o, o, o_ o 
ooid c5 o'^cro'crcTcTo 

O OOCO C> (OOOOOOO 
t- <>»rH O t-OOCOOOlO 



OO 

o'o" 



rH O Tji T-t O -^ <M 



yi OOOIOIO-^"^ C^CO 






•- .9 ""S 



j. C8 O O — •"■ 



.9 fe ^ ^ ? g "§ 



\* 



130 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 



CC^th-^1— liOCilO C'l^^ O CO TO CO -3 OJ^-^l^O^ 

ecTcTtxTci t-^t-^ -r-Toi c>f a'j'o''cd rH^acTiC oTcTcT 

-f C^ O r-" CO O T-H -^i^ r- - 



iC CO T 



3 -^ (XiCO 



^ tW 



s-'eo' rf rf ^' »ft' CN i-T 



) C-» CO o 

ro'co"-^ 

iO 01 CO 



iCb-t— oii^-p^orx-^THOicoaocoooiOcOTti 

T-lTfCOOCSOO^OOOiiOiQCirHCOCOOOSCO 

<Mcoo»co(MT-'OiCso»i-io:i«o«oooi— ioi--ii:ti 



CO -^ coo 



iOlC»Oi-H-r-iOOCOa050»J^C^10':D'ft-Tt<THiH 
CO"<}<iOOCOOCOOiOOiO'*THCOOsOr-(t-ffJ 

CliCiOCOCOOiCOb-l— lOOOTHCOrt^-MT-H-^ 
<MG^rHO^THTHi-lTHi-'iHrHT-HrHr-nHC0THTH 



CO Cd CO CO 



asi-'t-t-OOOCOCC>OslfSTt<OOt— OCib-Osb» 
lO'-''1HC0T-<t-'30OiCi'^'^Q0b-G-lO5eO'X)r-l 
CS C>J T-l Tf Oi -^ "X" 0_<^ Tf O CO rH^"-0 CO_ CO 
C^OT cT »0' CO 03 r-T-^" C>fT-ri-r rH 



OOT-lr-(CS 



Oi-<'^OOOiCO'riCO'«*COCO»OC^CiCOOO':DOS 

-- ■-CilCOOO-i-.COr-.Ot— TPCit— O^-r^r-i 
CM CI t— CO "Xi »0^'^ O C^ -^ CO 00 CO 
oT y^ Oi of CO r-T r-T 



00 i-H CS Ci IC o c 



OClOCiO(MOOiOOQOOSiOCOTHCiOi-HO 
THC-l-^Ot-COt— '^COCOt— t— Olr-T-HOQOO 
T-H -^ "^00 iC O Ci^CO^iO^O lO CO CS O "^^O O »o 

CO o"-^rcrrf"o''*o~co'"of (m' iO CO ■r-r>o^o''o'~i-^ i-T 
t-coi-'a)ooocc«:'iO-i-icoo»oooococo(M 

lO C/D rH Ol Tjl iO Cl CD T-. CO 1-' 00 iC tf) C5 <>3 

iH TtT tH To oX i-T co" i-T 



• o 


to 

5 














.■=^ 


00 







eft -e 



(MCOeOt— COTOCOI— C^OOlOt-OiOOOOO 

gOI-^OTHCOt-TOOTOOlCCi-'a^lTOOiOCO 



T-lTOOJTOOCil— Tj<' 



• CO Ci O- lO 



^5 



OOOOOOOOlCOOOOOCOOOO 

000>TOO>0 010(MOOOOC-iOOOO 



c^iftoot— T-(t-/:'Oi';ocooiO»ococoi 



-COCOOO CO 'C^ "(M 




SS^^C 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 131 

SECTION in. 

THE COTTON MANUPAOTURKS OF ETTEOPE. 

Oreat Britain. — This nation ranks first among foreign 
countries in the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Prior to 
our civil war she took from forty to sixty per cent, of the 
exports of the American crop ; and some idea may be 
formed of the extent of her manufactures when it is stated 
that their amount in number and value will more than 
double those of the United States. Her fabrics are good 
and substantial, though not quite so fine and beautiful as 
those of the Continent. She runs 21,000,000 spindles. 

France. — This nation ranks next to Great Britain in 
the quantity and value of the cotton consumed, while the 
variety of articles into which it is fabricated is much 
greater. In the taste and beauty of her tissues she justly 
claims the first place among modern nations. Her mills 
send forth every description of cotton goods — from the 
common calicoes of Rouen to the richly figured muslins of 
Mulhouse, the gossamer tulles of Saint Quentin, and the 
exquisite tarlatans of Tarare. 

The fine cotton tissues of French fabrication are cali- 
coes, Indiennes, percales, ginghams, madopolain, jaconet, 
organdie, figured muslins, printed muslins, handkerchiefs, 
shawls, tulles, bobinets, laces, bonnetine (caps, under-shirts, 
drawers, gloves, &c^, fringes, and nankeens. 

Two thousand and forty estabUshments consume raw 
material valued at 1)38,395,372. Their operations, by the 
aid of 212,000 workmen and 113,000 machines, increased 
this value to $61,000,000. The following summary pre- 
sents an outline of the different branches of cotton manu- 



132 MANUFACTURE OF COTTON'. 

facture in France, after the raw material has been converted 
into yarn or thread : 

1, Tissues of pure Cotton. 

Number of establishments 1,484 

Value of the spun cotton used $18,384,806 

Value of the tissues fabricated $30,448,200 

Total number of hands employed 145,474 

Wages of these hands $6,750,000 

Looms 92,623 

Spindles 190,336 

Profits, wages, and general expenses $12,090,000 

2. Transparent Tissues, embracing Tulles, Laces, and 
Embroideries. 

Number of establishments 46 

Value of raw material $1,000,000 

Value of products $2,700,000 

Number of hands 17,400 

3. Bleaching] Dyeing, and Printing Establishments. 

Number of every kind 290 

Value of raw material $11,292,000 

Value of products $16,500,000 

Number of hands 18,000 

4. Mixed Cotton Tissues. 

These embrace cotton and wool velvets; cotton and 
wool blankets ; cotton, wool, and flax fabrics ; cotton and 
silk ; cotton, silk, and wool. 

Total number of establishments 195 

Value of raw material $6,960,000 

Value of products $10,290,000 

Number of hands 26,000 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 133 

As an evidence that American cotton is prized more 
highly in France than any other, it is sufficient to state 
that the average annual importation into that country for 
ten years, including 1851 and 1860, amounted to 180,000,- 
000 pounds. Of this amount 160,000,000 pounds came 
from the United States, and the remaining 20,000,000 
from all other coimtries. 

Switzerland. — Tlie number of cotton spinning mills 
in Switzerland is 132 ; the number of weaving mills, 48 ; 
spindles, 1,100,000 ; looms, 7,800 ; number of pounds of 
raw cotton imported, about 30,000,000. Fine muslins are 
the leading articles manufactured. 

Russia. — The empire of Russia has kept a nearly 
equal pace with the other Continental states in the in- 
crease of consumption and manufacture of cotton. Before 
our civil war Russia was receiving about 125,000 bales, or 
56,000,000 pounds. 

There were in 1860 about sixty cotton spinneries, hav- 
ing 1,250,000 spindles, and employing nearly 60,000 hands. 
Weaving, dyeing, and printing cotton stuffs occupied four 
times that number of people. The tissues fabricated are 
calicoes, mitraies, percales, nankeens, Indiennes, shirtings, 
and Persiennes. The manufacture of fine tissues is very 
limited. The value of cotton tissues is about 65,000,000 
silver rubles. Nearly all of their tissues are consumed in 
the country, a small quantity only being exported to 
Asia. 

There are large manufactories of cotton in Austria, 
Sardinia, Belgium, and the Zollverein States, of which we 
cannot now speak particularly. 



134 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 



It affords us pleasure to present to the reader the fol- 
lowing remarks, made by Mr. Claiborne to Jacob Thomp- 
son, Secretary of the Interior, in the year 1858 : 

" In conclusion, it may be said that it would be difficult 
to over-estimate the importance of cotton in the movement 
of the industry and commerce of the civilized world. Since 
the inventions of Arkwright and Watt, in England, and 
Whitney, in our own country, its manipulation and fabri- 
cation have become so comparatively easy and cheap, and 
its adaptation to supply the wants or the luxuries of man 
have proved to be so multifarious, that the question of an 
adequate supply of it to the growing demand has become 
one of the very highest importance, being exceeded in in- 
terest by that of the cereals alone. Its influence in the 
well-being of the masses by furnishing employment, suste- 
nance, and cheap clothing, has long since been fully ad- 
mitted ; and such has been the impetus afforded by it to 
the invention and improvement of manufacturino- ma 
chinery, that, in his work, before quoted, M, Audiganne 
remarks that ' it was certainly a curious sight, that of the 
different aliments afforded by cotton to labor, and the ser- 
vices rendered to man at this day by this substance, of 
which the consumption has increased tenfold four or five 
times in less than sixty years. Cotton is manufactured 
among the greater part of the nations that figured at our 
side in the Palace of Industry. Nearly all had sent there 
samples of their fabrication — samples more or less numer- 
ous, more or less remarkable, but always worthy of atten- 
tive examination. The degree of advancement of each 
people in the career of industry might be measured by its 
skill in the treatment of cotton.^ 

" Illustrating its commercial and political influence as 
between the United States and Great Britain, Dr. Engei 



MANTTFACTUKE OF COTTON. 135 

says of it, 'that England and tlie United States are 
bound together by a single thread of cotton, which, weak 
and fragile as it may appear, is, nevertheless, stronger than 
an iron cable.' 

" No wonder, then, that the question of the adequate 
supply of this mighty and all-powerful agent soars at this 
day so far above many which, at the beginning of the 
present century, far outranked it in their bearings upon 
the interests of civilized man ; and it may not, in this con- 
nection, be deemed out of place to allude, briefly, to the 
history of the supply in Great Britain, which has long 
been the principal receiver of the raw material, not only 
to meet her own growing demands, but to be distributed, 
to some extent, among those European countries which 
commercial supremacy has made tributary to her. 

" Cotton planters and manufacturers are alike under 
great obligations to Joseph Rudworth Sharp, F. H. S., of 
London, for his valuable tables, published in September 
last, which exhibit in a clear and comprehensive manner 
the gross amount of receipts per year, with quinquennial 
averages, and the countries of production of the cotton 
received in the United Kingdom, &c., from the year 1821 
up to 1855. Tliese tables are admirably arranged, and 
must have cost an immense amount of labor to their com- 
piler ; and with full acknowledgment of the very great aid 
they have been to me, the second of them is annexed 
hereto, as affording, in a clear and succint form, the best 
information attainable on that subject. 

" It will be seen fi-om this statement how vast has been 
our own contribution of the raw material to Great Britain 
and Europe generally, and how much more reliable as a 
source of supply our cotton fields are than those of any or 
all other countries, as their production between 1851 and 



136 MANUFACTDEE OF COTTON. 

1855 waa five times that of the East Indies ; and that, 
while during that period, all other countries exported to 
Great Britain 937,024,275 pounds, our own sent her 
3,424,502,024 pounds, or more than three and a half 
times as much. 

" In his first table, Mr. Sharp sets down the import 
from the United States into the United Kingdom, in 1856, 
at 780,040,016 pounds; that from the East Indies at 180,- 
496,624 pounds ; and the total from all other countries 
than the United States at 243,846,512 pounds, leaving a 
balance in our favor of 536,193,504 pounds, and also 
showing that in that year also we contributed more than 
three times as much to European supply than all other 
countries combined, while it must be remembered that 
our domestic consumption was advancing so rapidly as to 
require for its use 652,739 bales, which estimated at 450 
pounds each, were equal to 293,732,550, or more than the 
import into England that year from all other countries 
than our own. 

" Mr. Samuel S. Littlefield, editor of the New Orleans 
* Price Current,' than whom there is no better informed or 
more reliable authority on the subject of cotton and the 
cotton trade in the Union, estimates the value of our crop 
of 1857 at 2,931,519 bales, after making all allowances for 
differences in their weights in different sections of the 
country, at an average of $50 per bale, making the total 
sum of $146,975,950. This gentleman has also furnished 
me with much interesting information, and several valuable 
suggestions. 

" From what has been said under the various heads of 
this report, the following conclusions as to the influence 
of raw cotton among the nations who are our chief cus- 
tomers for it may be drawn — 



MANUFACTUKE OF COTTON. 137 

1. " That it contributes vastly to their social well- 
being by fiirnishing labor, sustenance, and cheap and com- 
fortable clothing to many thousands of their subjects or 
citizens. 

2. " That to commerce, it contributes immensely by 
furnishiug a great variety of articles, by which its ex- 
changes are in a considerable degree regulated, and large 
profits continually realized. That to capital, it offers the 
means of profitable investment and returns, and aids 
gi'eatly in its accumulation. 

3. " That its political influence arises fi-om the fact, 
that, by opening and extending commercial relations be- 
tween different nations, it has created sympathies and ties 
of common interest, which make the policy of peace and 
its attendant blessings far more easy to maintain than was 
once the case ; that it adds to the national wealth and re- 
sources, and by furnishing employment and support to 
many thousands who might otherwise be without either, 
it makes contented those who would, through idleness or 
suffering, become burdens to the State. 

4. " That the permanent and adequate supply of raw 
cotton thus becomes to Great Britain and Continental Eu- 
rope a subject of vital importance, and indeed of absolute 
necessity ; and that any considerable diminution in the 
crop of the United States would cause the gravest incon- 
veniences, while the occurrence of any state of things 
whereby it should be entirely cut off would be followed 
by social, commercial, and political revulsions, the effect 
of which can scarcely be imagined." 



138 MANUFACTURE OF COTBON". 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON BY ITS PRODUCERS. 

ions of S. R. CocKRiLL seventeen years ago, commended for 
Reflection of Capitalists in 1866. 

The spindles and looms must be brought to the cotton 
fields. This is the true location of this powerful assistant 
of the grower. In the West, in the East, or in the North, 
would be better than any foreign country ; but the best lo- 
cation is the sunny South, where the cotton grows. The 
next best location is in the provision regions nearest the 
South. 

The inequality between the labor and capital for grow- 
ing and that for spinning is startling. A pound of cotton, 
ploughed, hoed, picked, ginned, baled, spun, and wove, is 
worth eighteen cents. The spinning and weaving, it is 
said, can be afforded for three cents cost, which would 
leave fifteen cents per pound for the labor of the planter, 
supposing the cotton mill in the cotton field, and the mill 
to get cost only ; but as three cents may be too low an 
estimate, make it six, and then twelve cents is left for the 
planter. But now, what does he get? Four, five, and six. 
The question may now be asked. Who gets the balance? 
Allowing six cents to the grower and six cents to the 
spinner, there will be six cents yet unaccounted for. It 
goes to pay warehouse charges, freight, insurance, drayage, 
storage, weighage, pickages, pressage, commissions, postage, 
bills of lading, exchange, freight to Liverpool, dock dues, 
freight on railroad to Manchester, and then it is at the mill, 
and the same process brings it back, and this will fully ac- 
count for the six cents a pound. Who pays these charges ? 
The grower. 

The growth and production of cotton are accomplished 
by the muscles of men and mules, laboring incessantly 



MANTJFACTUEE OF COTTON. 139 

eleven montlis in every twelve ; exposed to heat, to cold, 
to wind, and rain, and to tlie malaria of swamps. 

The spinning and weaving are done by the iron mus- 
cles of the spindle and loom, driven by the never-tiring 
engine, waited upon by boys and girls ; and this labor is 
under roof, certain as to quantity^ ft'ce from overflow, from 
frost, from caterpillar, and from boll-worm. This simple 
statement is evidence, clear and strong, that it is the grow- 
er's labor which is now sacrificed, and greatly sacrificed. 
A firm and determined resolution among the planters, for 
they are the men who are suffering, and they must act for 
themselves, can arrest this policy in a few years. An export 
duty on " raw cotton " would insure it, but it may be ac- 
complished without it. 

Having deteiTnincd that the mills must come to the cot- 
ton, which is but one move, whilst sending the cotton to 
the mills is a heavy annual, perpetual tax, it is proper to 
inquire if cotton growers can get up the spindles and looms 
among the fields. 

The following facts answer the question in the aflSrma- 
tive most distinctly. We estimate the crop at 2,300,000 
bales. The factories now in the United States require of 
this 600,000 bales— leaving 1, 700,000 for the South to spin. 
This would require li50 mills, with 10,000 spindles each, 
or 700 mills with 5,000 spindles each, or 3,500,000 spin- 
dles. 

Cost of Spindles. 

3,500,000 spuidles, with all machinery neces- 
sary, looms, &c., at $12 $42,000,000 

700 engines and fixtures, at $8,000 5,600,000 

Other expenses in and about the machinery. 5,000,000 

Total $52,000,000 



140 MANUFACTUKE OF COTTON. 

The machinery, if all purchased in one year, would cost 
about $50,000,000. Tliis is the only debt of importance 
necessary to be made, and its payment can be extended 
into ten instalments of $5,000,000 each, interest added. 
The difference in the income of cotton growers when they 
become spinners is so great that this debt would never be 
felt. The 1,700,000 bales intended for the cotton-field 
spindles, now yields an income of $40,000,000 at six cents. 
The same cotton spun up, by the creation of the above 
debt, by these iron muscles, will give the same growers an 
income of $120,000,000, less the cost of spinning and 
weaving, which would give an increase of not gain per an- 
num nearly equal to the cost of the machinery. 

One mode here suggested is, for planters, provision 
growers, and mechanics of all the cotton States to send in 
petitions for manufacturing companies to be chartered, upon 
application to the Legislatures of their respective States ; 
and also to pass an act for a general charter for all persons 
who may associate together for manufacturing purposes, so 
as to avoid partnerships, and limit the liability of stock- 
holders to the loss of their subscriptions as stock. 

Spinning may be commenced with any number of 
spindles, with or without looms. There is an extensive 
demand for cotton yarns, and thread is a salable manufac- 
ture. The mills at Lowell average about 6,000 spindles 
for each building. There is one, however, at Salem, con- 
taining 30,000 spindles, the largest in the world under one 
roof. The size of buildings, then, will depend upon the 
quantity of machinery intended to be worked. A mill for 
2,500 or 3,000 spindles, for coarse goods, will require, 
perhaps, three rooms, twenty-five by sixty feet long; and 
a plan suitable for the cotton-field system, which will be in 
the country, and where land costs nothing, and manageable 



MANUFACTURE OF COTTON. 141 

by slave labor, at comparatively no cost, is for fifteen plant- 
ers to take $4,000 each in stock, select a site for the mill 
near their plantations, detail three men from each, making 
a building force of forty-five men, besides an overseer and a 
general manager, one of the stockholders. With this force, 
and as many teams as may be necessary, they will proceed 
to put up three rooms of twenty-five feet by sixty feet, of 
wood, one story high, of coarse, strong, undressed lumber, 
such as they can readily prepare from the forest, without 
an outlay of capital. Add at convenient distances fifteen or 
twenty cabins, and the buildings for the mill are up. This 
wooden, one-story plan for the Qotton field possesses the 
advantages of costing nothing, of fixing and running the 
whole machinery upon the ground, making it more steady 
and accessible, and avoiding wear and tear, with better 
ventilation, less noise, and perhaps less risk from fire, 
because it is not the walls of a mill, but the cotton about 
machinery, which is liable to bum. 

We see no good reason why the views of Mr. Cockrill 
may not be adopted by our planters, and we commend 
them to the serious consideration of all our readers who 
feel a real interest in the prosperity of the country. 

We are happy to state in this place that the number of 
cotton manufacturers in the South is now greatly on the 
increase. Georgia seems to be taking the lead. Nearly 
one hundred mills will be in operation in the old Empire 
State by the first of November next. 

Mississippi, too, is building large factories. About 
twenty are already erected, and several more projected. 
Alabama has about thirty; North Carolina, thirty -five; 
South Carolina, twenty-five ; Tennessee, thirty-five ; Louis- 
iana, five ; Texas and Arkansas not heard from. 



142 MAlTOFACTtrRE OF COTTOK. 

We do not give these numbers as absolutely correct. 
Our statements are made from the best information we can 
obtain. 

We are going to work in good earnest, not only to re- 
pair the waste places of the war, but to build up and im- 
prove and prosper, and to show to the world that we can 
be as good soldiers in peace as we are in war ; and that we 
intend to achieve some most glorious victories on the fields 
of labor and in the chambers of commerce. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

CONSUMPTION OF COTTON. 

We restrict the phrase " consumption of cotton " to 
the actual wear and tear by the millions who are compelled 
to use it. A man of calculating mind may form some idea 
of this immense consumption by beginning his reckoning 
in his own family. How many yards of common domestic 
are required to clothe a single person for a year? Twenty- 
five yards is not too large an estimate as a fair average for 
old and young* adult women requiring fifty yards, and 
small children fi-om fifteen to thirty. How many persons 
are there in the United States requiring cotton cloth? 
30,000,000. Then it will require 750,000,000 yards. This 
calculation does not include the fine cambrics, muslins, 
laces, &c., of foreign importation. 

Let us extend our calculations across the water. Let 
us suppose that England takes annually 2,000,000 bales, or 
900,000,000 pounds. This will make 1,800,000,000 yards 
of cloth. A larger portion of this cloth is designed for 
clothing, and is distributed to all parts of the world, 
to be worn out or consumed on the backs of the needy 
myriads. 

France takes 500,000 bales, or 225,000,000 pounds. 
She converts it mostly into fine fabrics, such as laces and 
tulles. Supposing one pound of cotton will make four yards 



144 CONSUMPTION OF COTTON. 

of fine tissue, then it appears that Finance weaves 900,000,- 
000 yards of extra fine cotton cloth, a large portion of 
which she consumes herself; the balance being used up 
chiefly by England and the United States. 

The usual estimate of the consumption of cotton in the 
United States and England is from five to six pounds for 
each person ; but we believe the estimate for the United 
States is too low. Mr. Bowring, in his Report on the 
German Zollverein, states the consumption at 4^^ pounds 
to each family (or less than a pound to each person), but 
this is certainly below the present distributive amount. The 
estimate for France is Irom four to four and a half pounds 
to each person. Dr. Dieterici, of the Statistical Bureau 
of Berlin, estimated the consumption in Prussia, in 1806, 
at three-fourths of a yard ; in 1841 at seven yards ; and in 
1844, at thirteen yards; but it is now beheved to amount 
to from twenty-four to thirty yards. In Turkey and the 
adjacent countries the consumption is estimated at from two 
to two and a half pounds for each person. With respect to 
India and China our knowledge is less certain. Mr. Royle, 
in his excellent work on " The Culture and Commerce of 
Cotton in India," informs us that some observers estimate 
the consumption in British India at twenty pounds to each 
individual, the aggregate consumption at 3,000,000,000 
pounds, and the crop at 3,100,000,000. He questions the 
correctness of this estimate ; but the cotton produced there 
is different in quality, unclean, and badly prepared for the 
loom, and woven into inferior fabrics which are used for 
more varied purposes than cotton cloth is applied to in 
other parts of the world, including not only the cloths and 
robes of the people, but their beds and bedding, tents, 
cords, bands, and almost every purpose to which a textile 
material of such softness and flexibility is possibly adapted. 



CONSUMPTION OF COTTON. 145 

Tlae importance of this product to the people who there 
cultivate and consume it is unquestionably great. In fact, 
we cannot comprehend how what appear to be their 
absolute wants could be gratified without it, "\\Tiile it 
supplies their own requirements, however, in their present 
condition, it makes but little impression upon the general 
commerce of mankind. In this respect, the product of the 
United States, where its extended culture does not date a 
century back, is of the first importance, though the experi- 
ments of the English in British India were commenced a 
century earlier, and though the history of the culture of 
the plant in Asiatic countries runs through thousands of 
years. No branch of industry probably ever rose to such 
magnitude in so brief a time. Producing a very large 
annual supply above the actual wants of the country, and 
of a material superior in quality to the yield of any other 
land, the United States possesses by virtue of this crop an 
interest in the commerce of the world, which could not be 
secured by means of a product less peculiar in its nature, 
or less intimately connected with the social condition of 
civilized Europe. This cotton chain not only binds one 
section of our land to the other, but unites England to us 

" With links more durable than links of steel." 

English and American fabrics made from our cotton are 
known over the whole globe, and in the markets of China 
and India take precedence of the products of the indigenous 
staple, in some fabrics, not only because they are better, 
but because they can be purchased even there at lower 
prices. Thus, this improved product of the soil in America, 
aided by the inventions of Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney, 
is even now more powerful than armies in securing the 
advancement of civilization and enlightened liberty. Their 
7 



146 CONSUMPTION OF COTTON. 

influences are yet to increase as the demand for cotton is 
augmented. There must be more soil devoted to its cul- 
ture, or that already under tillage must be improved in 
fertility. More laborers must bend to the work, or the 
industry now so applied must be rendered more produc- 
tive. And none of these changes can be accomplished 
without visible effects upon the social and political affairs 
of mankind. 



CHAPTER IX. 

COTTON SEED— CHEMICAL COMPOSITION— UTILITY OF SURPLUS 
SEED— FOOD FOR CATTLE— MANURE— OIL-OIL-CAKES. 

Prof. Jackson has made several analyses of cotton 
seed, which, together with his remarks suggested by his 
examination, we here present for the benefit of the reader. 

His first analysis was made for the purpose of determin- 
ing the proportion of fixed oil contained in the seed ; the 
next was a chemical examination of the properties and 
composition of the " oil-cake," or what remains of the seed 
after the extraction of the oil. The third gives the true 
elementary constitution of the oil-cake ; and the fourth, the 
nature and proportions of the inorganic principles, or 
mineral salts, contained in the ashes of the incinerated oil- 
cake, and also, that of the seed before the oil was separated. 
It will be understood by the chemist that a vast deal of 
labor has been required to work out all these results. 

Separation of the Oil. — In order to separate the 
fixed oil, pure ether was employed, and it was found that 
one hundred grains of the dried pulverized seeds yielderl, 
in one experiment, 39.Y, and in another 40 per cent, of 
pure fatty oil. By pressure, 33 per cent, of oil was 
obtained. The specific gravity of the oil obtained from 



148 COTTON SEED. 

the ethereal sohition, was 0.933, water being unity. 
This is also the specific gravity of purified whale-oil. 

Cotton-seed oil is stated, by Dr. Wood, to be a drying 
oil ; but that obtained by Dr. Jackson does not appear to 
possess drying properties, serving perfectly well for the 
lucubration of machinery, and for burning in lamps, as well 
as for making soap. It will also serve as a substitute for 
olive oil in many cases, and perhaps may be eaten as a 
salad oil, for it has no disagreeable odorous taste. 

Chemical Examination of Oil-Cake. — Linseed oil- 
cake is well known, both in Europe and in this country, as 
valuable food for cattle, and as an excellent fertilizer, worth 
from forty to forty-five dollars per ton for the latter pur- 
pose. On examination of the cotton-seed oil-cake, it is 
found to possess a sweet and agi'eeable flavor, and is much 
more pure and clean than linseed oil-cake. One hundred 
grains of the seed leave sixty grains of oil-cake. This 
cake, examined for sugar, is found to contain 1.1 grains, 
and for gum, thirty-five grains. Iodine gives no proof of 
the existence of any starch in cotton seed, nor in the oil- 
cake. Alcohol dissolves out the sugar, which is, like that 
obtained from raisins, grape-sugar. Boiling water dissolves 
the gum, and becomes very mucilaginous. The gum is 
precipitable fi'om the water, by means of pure alcohol. 

Ultimate Analysis — Elementary Constituents of 
THE Oil-Cake. — Carbon, 3*7. 740 ; oxygen, 39.663 ; nitro- 
gen, 7.753 ; hydrogen, 5.869 ; salts (inorganic), 8.960. 
Total, 99.985. These salts arc obtained by the combus- 
tion of a separate portion of the same cake. 

Chemical Composition of the Salts. — Three hundred 
grains of cotton seed burned give 16.5 grains of ashes, 



COTTON SEED. 149 

which yield alkaline salts soluble in acids. Of the 16.5 
grains of ashes, it is found that 9.13 grains consist of phos- 
phate of lime. On separating the various salts, and re- 
ducing them to their ratios, for one hundred grains of the 
oil-cake the result is found to be as follows : 

Alkaline salts, soluble in water 0.13 

Phosphate of lime 3.04 

Potash 0.46 

Soda 0.53 

Phosphoric acid, with traces of sulphuric acid and 

chlorine 0.81 

Silica, and oxides of iron and manganese 0.18 

5.15 
Loss 0.35 

5.50 

The foregoing analyses of cotton seed justify and ex- 
plain the use made of them by the Southern planters, in 
preparing the soil with the rotted seeds as a special manure 
for Indian corn, which draws so largely on the soil for 
phosphates. It will also be seen that, since the cotton- 
seed oil-cake contains nearly eight per cent, of nitrogen, 
and nearly six per cent, of hydrogen, the elements of am- 
monia are present in sufficient quantities to form about ten 
per cent, of ammonia, a powerful stimulant to vegetation, 
and a solvent and carrier of humus into their circulation. 
The carbon is more than sufficient to take up all the 
oxygen in the formation of carbonic acid, another active 
fertilizer ; and the excess of carbonaceous matter will re- 
main and form humus, or vegetable mould, which the alka- 
lies, soda, potash, and ammonia will, in part, dissolve and 
carry into the circulation of plants, which possess the 
power of approximating and converting it into their tis- 



150 COTTON SEED. 

sues. The phosphates go ultimately to the seeds, and, in 
Indian corn and in wheat, concentrate wholly about the 
germs in their mucilage or "chits." Thus it is proved 
that every ingredient of cotton-seed cake acts as a nutri- 
ment to vegetation. 

Cotton seed are greedily devoured by cattle and hogs, 
and are found to be quite nutritive. Fresh seed may be 
fed to cattle, but they ought to undergo partial decom- 
position before being given to hogs. The fibre adhering 
to the new seed seems to irritate their air-passages, ex- 
citing cough and inflammation of the lungs, which not 
unfrequently terminate in death. 

A judicious use of cotton seed as food for animals Avill 
save the planter's corn, and enable him, if he is scarce of 
grain, to supply the demand made by his horses and mules 
as well as his family. It must not be supposed, however, 
from what we have said, that cotton seed alone is sufficient 
for the nourishment of cattle and hogs, or for the pro- 
duction of good milk and good pork. Nothing is equal 
to good corn. 

The usual method of applying cotton seed to the 
ground as a manure, is to pile it in the fields in heaps of 
ten bushels, so as to place about twenty bushels on an acre. 
This is usually done late in the fall or early in the winter, 
and by planting time the decomposed seed are ready for 
use. They are usually taken by the hands and deposited 
in the cotton drills and corn rows along with the sound 
seed. 

Cotton-seed oil is used extensively for lubricating ma- 
chinery. It is also consumed in lamps, but does not afford 
as brilliant a light as coal oil. 




THE KOT IN COITON. 



Plate III. 



CHAPTEE X 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 



SECTION I. 
DISEASES EEStrXTENG SOLELY FEOM INSECTS, 

The cotton world is greatly indebted to Mr. T. Glover 
for his researches into the diseases of our valuable plant. 
We present the result of his labors without offering any 
apology. 

INSECTS FREQUENTING THE COTTON PLANT. 

The cotton plant furnishes food for numerous insects, 
some of which feed exclusively upon the leaf, some upon 
the flower, while others destroy the young buds and bolls. 
It is my purpose to describe these insects, not in the order 
of their classification by natural families, but according to 
the part of the plant they most generally frequent, or to 
which their ravages are chiefly confined. Thus, by refer- 
ring to the parts injured, one can easily recognize the in- 
sects, or their larvae, which attack them in any of the 
stages of their existence. 

Many of these insects at first appear in small numbers, 
and only become formidable in the second or third gener- 



152 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

ation ; for instance, if a female boll-worm produce five 
hundred moths, one-half of which are males and the other 
half females, the next generation, if the increase be in the 
same ratio, will amount to one hundred and twenty-five 
thousand caterpillars or moths ; and all this is accom- 
plished in the space of a few weeks. It will therefore be 
perceived that their destruction depends upon prompt and 
timely action ; and planters may materially aid in carrying 
out a work designed for their mutual benefit, by minutely 
observing the habits and characteristics of these pests of 
our fields, devising means for their destruction, and com- 
municating the results of their observations and experi- 
ments, through some appropriate channels, to the public. 

Insects injurious to the cotton plant consist of those 
very destructive to the general crops, such as the boll- 
worm, cotton caterpillar, and some others ; and those 
which do comparatively little injury, their numbers thus 
far not being sufiiciently great to cause much damage, 
such as the leaf-rolling caterpillar {Tortrix) and several in- 
sects hereafter mentioned. There are still others, which 
do not materially injure the crop itself, such as the span- 
worm, and others which only feed upon the petals or 
pollen of the flowers. There are also many insects found 
in the cotton fields which do no damage whatever to the 
plant, but merely feed upon weeds and grass growing be- 
tween the rows, such as the caterpillar of the Argynnis 
columbina, which feeds upon the passion-vine, and that of 
the Zanthidia niceppe, which sometimes devours the Mary- 
land cassia, and produces the beautiful orange-colored but- 
terflies, seen in vast numbers hovering over moist or wet 
places on the plantations. 

A class of insects which is highly beneficial, compre- 
hends the larvae of the lady-bird, the ichneumon flies, and 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 153 

many others, that are ever on the search for living victims 
amongst the noxious tribes, and which serve to keep the 
numbers of the latter within proper bounds. 

Thus, it is highly necessary to be able to recognize the 
injurious from the comparatively innocuous as well as the 
useful insects, and I have therefore thought proper to de- 
scribe and figure most of those which infest the cotton 
fields, as many of them feed upon or injure the plants in 
one State or another ; and, although they may do but 
little injury at first, yet were they to multiply as fast as 
some others, they would eventually become as great a 
nuisance as the boll-worm is at present. According to a 
communication from Colonel Whitner, of Tallahassee, in 
Florida, the latter insect was scarcely known in that region 
before the year 1841 ; but it has since increased to such 
an extent as to cause an immense yearly loss to the 
planters. 

Several methods of destroying insects on plantations 
and elsewhere have been recommended, one of which is 
the use of fire or burning torches. The innumerable 
myriads of nocturnal moths, being attracted by the lights, 
burn their wings as they hover around, and are either de- 
stroyed at once or disabled from flying about to deposit 
their eggs in distant parts of the field. A species of lan- 
tern has been used for entrapping such as are attracted by 
light, and with some success. It is formed of a top, bot- 
tom, and back, made of wood, with a glass front and sides, 
a little more than a foot square, according to the size of 
the glasses used. The front is supported by a pillar at 
each corner ; on the inside of the back of the lantern is 
fastened a tin or glass reflector. The three glazed sides 
consist of two panes, sliding in grooves, made in the top 
and bottom boards, and meeting in the middle at an angle 



164 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

of about one hundred and twenty degrees, instead of one 
pane, as in common lanterns. These panes can be slipped 
in and out, so as to leave a space open between them, 
larger or smaller as may be desired. A lamp is placed in 
the centre of the bottom, protected from insects and wind 
by a common glass chimney, which protrudes through a 
hole in the top. All the bottom of the box inside of the 
glass having been previously cut away, excepting a circular 
place on which to put the lamp, it is then deposited on a 
vessel or barrel covered with cloth, having an aperture 
cut in it corresponding with the bottom of the box, and 
the vessel beneath, containing molasses, or some other ad- 
hesive substance. The insects which may be flying about 
will be immediately attracted by the light, and approach 
the angle of the panes until they shall have entered the 
aperture, when, once within, and not being able to fly out 
again, they will come in contact with the heated glass 
chimney, and thus be precipitated into the vessel beneath, 
in which they will perish. 

Another plan, which it is hoped may, upon experiment, 
be found applicable to the enemies of the cotton plant, has 
lately been reported as having proved eflBcient as a means 
of destroying the tobacco-worm in Florida. This worm is 
the larva of a large moth commonly known by the name 
of the " tobacco-fly " [Sphynx Carolina), which is in the 
habit of feeding upon the nectar, or honey, contained in 
flowers, over which it may often be seen in the evening, 
poised in the air in a manner similar to that of the hum- 
ming-bird, making a buzzing noise with its wings, and 
busily employed in extracting the sweets by means of its 
long trunk. 

As it had been previously observed that these moths 
ai'e particularly fond of the Jamestown weed (Datura 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 155 

stramonium), a plan adopted in Florida as an eftectual 
means of destroying them, and which it is said has suc- 
ceeded to a considerable extent, has been eoinmunicated 
by Mr. Jesse Wood, of Mount Pleasant, in that State, 
who says: 

" About five years ago, Mr. Igdaliah Wood, of this 
vicinity, endeavored to poison the fly that produces the 
horn-worm, by applying a preparation of cobalt and sweet- 
ened water to the flower of the tobacco-plant. He found 
some diflieulty in consequence of the cup of this flower not 
being in a favorable position to retain the poison. Mr. 
George Sunday next tried the bloom of the gourd-vine, with 
better success. Mr. E. Johnson afterward used the James- 
town weed, which answered the expectation of the most 
sanguine. The preparation consists of about a pint of wa- 
ter, a gill of molasses or honey, and an ounce of cobalt. 
After inserting a quill through the cork of the bottle, he 
let fall a few drops of this mixture into the cup of the 
flower about sunset. As this poison will soon kill the 
stalk of the Jamestown weed, the best plan is to break off 
the blossoms, make a hole in the ground, and place them 
in it. It is thought that the flies find them quicker than 
when left upon the stalks. It is certain to destroy the 
moths, although they frequently live until ten o'clock the 
next day, notwithstanding they are disabled from fiying or 
depositing their eggs soon after taking the poison. 

" I consider this discovery of immense value to tobacco 
planters, and, if it or any similar method should lead to 
the destruction of the cotton caterpillar and boll-worm, 
which is highly probable woiild be the case, it will be of 
incalculable benefit." 

From this statement, it will be seen that, if such a plan 
is really of utility when applied to the cotton-fly, there can 



156 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

be no reason why it should not answer also in regions 
where honey-bees are not kept, for all such insects as are 
attracted by sweet substances ; and it is to be hoped that 
experiments will be made the ensuing season, and reported 
for the public good. The thing to be chiefly desired now 
is, to find out the favorite food of the particular kind of 
insect to be destroyed; then to discover and use some 
efficient poison for the accomplishment of the purpose. 
If, however, birds should perish from feeding upon these 
poisoned insects, it will somewhat militate against the ad- 
vantages of the plan. 

Several experiments were made in Florida by tlie writer, 
on the utility of using arsenic, cobalt, and strychnine, as 
means of destroying insects, some few of which succeeded, 
while many failed. In several instances, the insects would 
not touch the mixture at all. 

Honey or sugar and rum, when rubbed on the bark of 
trees, will attract and intoxicate several species of insects, 
and might sometimes be advantageously used. Many 
planters in the Southern States recommend the berries of 
the " China-tree," or " Pride of China " {Melia azderach), 
to be put around cabbage-plants, in order to prevent the 
attack of the cut-worm ; and as it is already known that 
these berries have an intoxicating eflfect upon the robins 
which eat so freely of them, they may have the same nar- 
cotic properties when applied to insects. It is at least 
worth while to make the experiment. Whale-oil soap, 
mixed with water, in proper proportions, thrown upon 
plants infested with plant-lice {Aphides), is almost certain to 
•destroy them. Flour of sulphur is stated to be useful 
when applied to grape-vines, or any other plants which are 
infested with the red spider, or are attacked by a fungoid 
growth. A mixture of a gallon of water, a gallon of whis- 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 157 

key, or other spirit, and four ounces of aloes, was highly 
recommended in Florida as a certain remedy against the 
attacks of the orange-scale insects; but, with some who 
have tried it, although all the insects appeared to be de- 
stroyed, in a few weeks they reappeared, showing that the 
wash would have to be continually repeated until all the 
eggs under the scales had hatched and the younger broods 
were killed. Perhaps the same mixture might be success- 
fully used for several other kinds of insects. 

But, while so many artificial modes are recommended 
to accomplish the destruction of insects, planters are very 
apt to overlook the great daily benefits derived from other 
agents which have been kindly provided by Nature to 
check their undue increase. These agents are the birds, 
which constantly destroy them in any of their varied 
forms — larva, pupa, or perfect insect. Mocking-birds and 
bee-martins catch and destroy the boll-worm moth, and 
many others, even on the wing, when the latter first appear 
upon the plantations, and thus materially diminish their 
numbers. If the fields are ploughed in the fall, many in- 
sects and chrysalides, which would otherwise come out in 
safety in the spring, are turned to the top of the furrow- 
slice, and either fall a prey to the ever-busy birds, or perish 
from exposure to the wintry frosts. 

The nimble and graceful lizards of the South also act 
beneficially to the planter, as they are constantly on the 
alert, and catching every insect that chances to alight in 
their way. Toads, also, do much good, as they wander 
principally during the morning and evening hours, as well 
as in cloudy weather, and entrap insects by means of their 
viscid tongues. Such benefactors as these should be pre- 
served, and not injured or killed as they often are. One 
pair of wrens or blue-birds, in a Northern garden, or of 



158 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

mocking-birds on a Southern plantation, will accomplish 
more in destroying insects injurious to vegetation than can 
be imagined by one who has not studied their habits, or 
watched them with attention, when busily engaged in 
searching under every lea^ or in every fissure of the bark, 
for their insect prey. 

INSECTS FOUND UPON THE STALKS. 
The Cut- Worm. 

I have not been able this year (1855) to procure speci- 
mens of the worms which cut off the young plants early in 
the season, as I arrived in the region of cotton-fields after 
their ravages had ceased ; but, from the authority of able 
and scientific planters, I am induced to believe that they are 
very similar in habits and appearance to many of the cut- 
worms of the gardens, which penetrate the earth close to a 
plant, and at night emerge from their retreats to gnaw it 
ofi" at or near the ground. 

A gentleman in Florida, who had been troubled with 
this pest, informed me that a particular spot of four or five 
acres in his field had beeu literally thronging with cut- 
worms, so that most of the plants were either eaten oflf or 
destroyed, and that, finally, fearing the loss of his whole 
crop, he turned into the enclosure some twenty or thirty 
young pigs, which soon discovered the worms, rooted them 
up in great numbers, and fattened on the unaccustomed 
diet. The cotton was not injured, as the pigs were too 
young to root deep enough to destroy the plants. The pigs 
remained where the worms were to be found, never troub- 
ling any other portions of the field, and their strong powers 
of scent enabled them to detect their insect prey even when 
buried in the earth. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 159 

Should tlie moths of this cut-worm be like those of 
their congeners of the North, and attracted by light, it 
migbt be well to use a lantern like that already de- 
scribed, or to ascertain the favorite substance upon which 
they feed, and poison them, as suggested in the case of the 
tobacco-fly. 



INSECTS FOUND ON THE LEAP. 

The Cotton-Louse. — (Aphis ?) 

When the cotton-plant is very young and tender it is 
particularly subject to the attacks of the cotton-louse, 
which, by means of its piercer, penetrates the outer coat- 
ing, or parenchyma, of the leaf or tender shoots, and sucks 
the sap from the wound. The under part of the leaves or 
young shoots are the places mostly selected, and the con- 
stant punctures and consequent drainage of sap enfeebles 
the plant and causes the leaf to curl up, turn yellow, and 
subsequently fall to the ground. The young lice are ex- 
tremely minute, and of a greenish color ; but when they 
become older, they are about a tenth of an inch in length, 
and often dark green ; but in some instances they are 
almost black. It is conjectured that the color somewhat 
depends upon the health of the plant as well as that of the 
insect, or perhaps upon their food, as I have seen green 
and black lice promiscuously feeding upon the same plant. 
The female produces her young alive throughout the sum- 
mer, when she may often be seen surrounded by her nu- 
merous progeny, sucking the juice from the leaves, and still 
producing young. Some naturalists state that the females, 
late in the fall, produce eggs for the generation of the next 
spring. If so, it is in order to preserve the species, as the 



160 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT, 

insects tlieinsclves are easily killed by frost and cold ; and 
their increase would be incalculable were it not that Nature 
has provided many enemies among the insect tribes to 
prevent their too rapid multiplication. Both males and 
females are said to possess wings at certain seasons ; but 
the females and young in summer appear to be wingless. 
The end of the abdomen of both sexes is provided with 
two slender tubes, rising like horns from the back, from 
which often exudes "the honey-dew," or sweet gummy 
substance, seen sticking to the upper sides of the leaves 
beneath them, and which forms the favorite food of myriads 
of ants. Although young plants are mostly attacked, yet 
I have seen old " stands " in Georgia, with their young 
shoots, completely covered with this pest as late as No- 
vember. 

The principal insects that destroy the aphides are th^ 
lady-bird, the lace-fly and the syrphus, all of which wage 
incessant war upon them, and devour all they can find. 
Another fly, the ichneimion, likewise lays an egg in the 
body of the louse, which, hatching into a grub, devourp 
the inside of the still living insect until it eventually dies, 
clinging to the leaf even in death, and the fly makes its 
appearance from the old skin of the aphis. 

"When old cotton-plants are suffering from the attacks 
of the louse, many planters cause their tops to be cut off 
and burned, and by so doing partially succeed in destroy- 
ing them ; yet, when we consider that, by this method, 
many young blossoms and " forms " must likewise be 
destroyed, it must be confessed that the remedy is almost 
as bad as the disease. In a garden or green-house, a solu- 
tion of whale-oil soap, from a syringe, showered upon the 
upper and under parts of the foliage, has been used with 
much advantage j yet, upon the extended scale of a cotton 



Magnified. 



COTTON LOIjSE. 



Magnified. 




Aphis, 



Xaiiwal si^e. 



/ \ Aphis. 

Natural size ^W^ of Coiion Louse. 



Natural size. 




places atlai ledhy^ // 
the i/oung V 0, m f^ )m ^'j^ \ ' 

Old Boll attacked, and old Worm. ' Young Boll attacked. 

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE COTTON PLANT. Plate IV. 




DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 161 

plantation, such a remedy is altogether impracticable, and, 
until we can collect further infonnation upon this subject 
from intelligent planters, we must rest content with the 
instinct of our insect allies. 

Grasshoppers. — (Locusta ?) 

Grasshoppers, or, more properly speaking, " locusts," 
occasionally do much damage to young cotton-plants, as 
they not only feed upon the tender leaves, but have been 
caught in the very act of devouring the petals of the 
flowers in the fields of Georgia, as late as the month of 
November ; but, as at this time the grass on which they 
usually feed abounds between the rows, the damage done 
by them to the general crop is but slight. 

Several species of grasshoppers, or locusts, infest old 
cotton and grass fields, some of them being of large size 
and possessing great powers of flight. It may, however, 
be observed, that the true locust is not the insect generally 
known by that name in the United States, which is in 
reality a harvest-fly {Cicada)^ usually inhabiting trees, 
where it makes an incessant buzzing noise which may be 
heard at a great distance during the summer and autumnal 
evenings. The shape of the harvest-fly is much clumsier 
and broader than that of the real locust, and the under- 
wings are not folded up like a fan, under a wing-case, but 
transparent, stifi", and veined. 

The real locust is similar to the grasshopper in shape, 
but the body is more robust, the antennas shorter, and its 
flight much longer and more vigorous. Its under-wings, 
also, when at rest, are folded up in fan-like plaits under 
the outer-wing covers. Grasshoppers and locusts are pro- 
duced from eggs as perfect insects, with legs and antennae. 



162 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

They are able to run about and leap with great agility, but 
are eatirely destitute of the rudiments of wings, except in 
the pupa state. It is only the perfect insects which are 
able to perpetuate their kind. They are generally fur- 
nished with ample wings, which enable them to fly from 
field to field. Grasshoppers and locusts do much harm, 
when very numerous, to grass and vegetables, and even to 
fruit-trees, as well as to cotton. Turkeys, ducks, and 
other fowls feed upon them with great avidity, and are 
very useful in diminishing their numbers. In some of the 
Northern States, they have been destroyed by means of 
sheets spread upon poles, so as to sweep them into a bag 
fastened behind, which is drawn over the fields infested 
by them ; they are then killed by means of boiling water 
or fire. 

The Leaf-Hopper. — {Tettigoma?) 

The leaves of the cotton-plant are often injured by the 
leaf-hopper. This small insect is found upon the plant in 
the larva, pupa, and perfect state. In all these forms, it 
sucks the sap from the leaf, causing small diseased and 
whitish-looking spots, much disfiguring the foliage, and 
injuring the plant itself, when the insects are very numer- 
ous. They are also found in great numbers on grape- 
vines, in Flonda, and injure the foliage to a considerable 
degree. 

The perfect insects are very small, measuring only from 
one-tenth to three-twentieths of an inch in length. The 
head is somewhat crescent-shaped, of a green color, with 
two red spots on the upper surface. The thorax is also 
green, with two crescent-shaped spots of red on each side 
of a small red spot in the centre. The wing-cases are 
green, with two stripes or bands of red, running parallel 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 163 

down each wing-case, from the thorax to the upper margin, 
where they foirm an acute angle. The legs are yellowish- 
green, the hinder pair heing much longer than the others, 
and fin-nished with bristles on the tibia. In the larva 
state, they are able to leap with great agility ; but it is 
only in the perfect state that they are able to fly, the 
under-wings being hidden by the wing-cases, and not per- 
fectly developed in the larvae or pupaj. There are several 
species of these insects found upon cotton, which it will 
not be necessary here to describe, as their natural history 
and habits are nearly the same. 

In using the lantern already described, it was found 
that thousands of these small insects were attracted from 
some grape-vines in an adjoining field The use of fires 
or lights may therefore be recommended to destroy them, 
when they become very numerous, although, as regards 
the cotton, they are not often found on it in numbers suf- 
ficient to do much harm. 

The Cotton Caterpillar. — {Noctua zylina.) 

The leaves of the plant are sometimes entirely devoured 
by what is commonly known to planters as the " cotton 
caterpillar," or " cotton amiy-worm." It does not appear 
every year in immense numbers, but at uncertain intervals. 
This season (1855), it first made its appearance in the 
vicinity of Tallahassee about the month of August, on the 
plantation of Mr. Hunter, and then spread gradually 
through the rest of the plantations in that region. In 
October, it had already committed considerable ravages in 
several of the cotton-fields, not so severe, however, as had 
been anticipated, though th€ crops on several plantations 
were somewhat injured. 



164 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

The perfect insect, or fly, when at rest, is of a triangular 
shape, the head forming one and the extremities of the 
wings the other two angles. The color of the upper-wings 
is reddish-gray, a dark spot with a whitish centre appear- 
ing in the middle of each. The under-wings are of a dark 
reddish-gray. The moth of this caterpillar loses much of 
its grayish cast when it becomes older, and the down has 
been rubbed from the wings. It then assumes more of a 
reddish tinge. 

The perfect flies, or moths, are easily attracted by 
lights, and may be found resting in the daytime on the 
walls or ceilings ot rooms, attracted there, no doubt, by 
the candles or lamps on the evening before. If undisturbed, 
they will remain motionless during the day ; but, as night 
approaches, they fly off" with much vigor and streng-th. 
When in the open air, they may be found among and under 
the leaves of the cotton-plant, as well as those of the weeds 
which surround the plantation. The eggs are deposited 
principally on the under sides of the leaves, but often upon 
the outer calyx ; and I have even found them, when very 
numerous, upon the stem itself. 

Wherever these caterpillars were very abundant, I 
counted from ten to fifteen eggs on a single leaf, which are 
very small, and difficult to be distinguished from the leaves 
themselves, on account of their green color. In shape, the 
eggs are round and flat, and, when examined under a 
microscope, they appear regularly furrowed or ribbed. 
Their color, when freshly deposited, is of a beautiful semi- 
transparent sea-green. They are closely attached to the 
leaf on which they are laid. I am thus particular to state 
this, because, in an able article published some time ago, 
it was alleged that "the egg is fixed upon the leaf by a 
small filament attached by a glutinous substance." This 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLAOT?. 165 

mistake might the more easily be made by any person 
who had not himself observed the eggs when hatching, as 
that of the lace -wing fly is held by such a filament, and, 
moreover, is found in similar situations on the leaves, but 
generally with or near a colony of plant lice, where the 
instinct of the parent lace-wing fly teaches it to deposit its 
eggs, and thus provide for a supply of fresh food for the 
young larvse, which feed upon and destroy millions of the 
cotton-lice. There is a great difference also between the 
eggs of the caterpillar moth and those of the boll-worm 
moth, the first being, as before stated, round and flattened 
in shape, and green in color, whereas those of the boll- 
worm moth are not flat, but more of an ovoid shape, and 
of a dirty-yellowish tinge. I cannot state exactly what 
time is required to hatch the eggs after they have been 
laid by the parent fly, as I could not succeed in procuring 
any from the moths hatched and kept in confinement, 
although carefully preserved for the purpose. Dr. Capers 
says that it requires from fourteen to twenty days ; but the 
eggs I found in the fields invariably hatched within a week 
from the time they were brought into the house. How- 
ever, this must depend a great deal upon the state of the 
atmosphere and the warmth of the season. The young 
caterpillars, when hatched, very soon commence feeding 
upon the parenchyma, or soft, fleshy part of the leaves, and 
continue to do so until they become sufficiently large and 
strong enough to eat the leaf itself. They are able to 
suspend themselves by a silken thread when shaken from 
the plant. They change their skins several times before 
attaining their full growth, when they measure from one 
and a half to nearly two inches in length. The first brood 
of caterpillars, in August and September, were all of a green 
color, with narrow, longitudinal, light stripes along each 



166 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

side of their bodies, and two broader light-yellowish 
stripes along each side of their backs, down the centre of 
each of which was one distinct, narrow, light-colored line. 
Each of the broader bands was marked with two black 
spots on each segment ; and on each segment of the sides 
were three or more dark dots. The head was yellowish- 
green, spotted with black. The caterpillars of the second 
and third generations are of a much darker color than 
those of the first ; their under parts are more of a yellowish- 
green, and their sides sometimes of a purple cast; their 
backs are black, with three distinct light-colored lines 
running down their length ; and their heads are also darker, 
and of a yellowish-brown, spotted with black. 

The question naturally arises, "What causes this 
change of color in the latter part of the season, since the 
moths hatched from the lightest and darkest caterpillars 
prove to be exactly the same ? Several planters attribute 
it to the influence of the sun, or to the food upon which 
they subsist ; but this can scarcely be the case, as I have 
often observed individual caterpillars, evidently of the 
second or third generation, of the lightest green color, 
amongst a crowd of the black worms on the same leaf, as 
late as October, and exposed to the same influences of the 
sun. 

These insects appear to multiply to the greatest extent 
in damp, cloudy weather. When the older caterpillars are 
suddenly touched, they have the habit of doubling them- 
selves up and springing to a distance of several times their 
length ; but when undisturbed, and not feeding, they appear 
to rest on the leaf with the fore part of the body elevated 
and somewhat curved, whereas, sometimes they keep up a 
species of swinging or jerking motion from side to side, 
as if enjoying the heat of the sun. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 167 

This caterpillar is furnished with six pectoral, eight 
ventral, and two anal feet, of which, however, the two an- 
terior ventral ones are imperfect, small, and apparently use- 
less, so that its mode of progression somewhat resemble? 
that of the span-worm, or looper, of the North, elsewhere 
described. 

In fifteen or twenty days after the caterpillar has at- 
tained its full size it ceases to feed. It then doubles down 
the edge of a leaf, and fastens it with its own silk to the 
main part of the same leaf, or by webbing several leaves 
together, forming thereby a very loosely-spun cocoon. In 
this, it transforms into a chrysalis, which at first is green, 
but in a short time after changes to a chestnut-brown, or 
even to almost black. 

The first brood I raised were fifteen days in the chrys- 
alis state before making their appearance as perfect moths ; 
but, as this happened in a cold room and screened from 
the sun, I am of the opinion that, when they are exposed 
to a warm sun in the open fields, the time must necessarily 
be much shorter. I raised one caterpillar late in the fall, 
which was even thirty days before emerging from its 
cocoon ; but this I attributed entirely to the cold weather 
and non-exposure to the sun. This fact would tend to 
show that the hatching of the chrysalis may be delayed, 
by peculiar circumstances, until long after the natural 
time. 

The tail of the chrysalis is furnished with several small 
hooks, bent inward, by means of which it is enabled to 
hold fast to the loose web of which the cocoon is formed, 
while emerging from the chrysalis skin, or, in case of acci- 
dent, to prevent it from falling out of the cocoon during 
the prevalence of strong winds. 

There have been many speculations regarding the 



168 DISEASES OF THE COTTON BLANT. 

origin and periodical visits of this moth. In 1843 Mr. 
Whitemarsh B. Seabrook read a " Memoir on the Cotton- 
Plant" before the State Agricultural Society in South 
Carolina, in which he says, " That the cotton moth sur- 
vives the winter is nearly certain ; an examination of the 
neighboring woods, especially after a mild winter, has 
been often successfully made for that purpose. They 
were seen by the writer in May last, in the edge of a belt 
of pines, within a few yards of a cotton-field. In the 
winter of 1825, Benjamin Reynolds, of St. John's, Colle- 
ton, found them in the woods, principall)'' on the cedar- 
bush, incased alive in their cover, impervious to water, 
and secured to a twig by a thread. The pupae, wrapped 
in cotton leaves, from their bleak exposure, invariably die 
on the approach of cold weather." 

From what was stated to me by some of the best 
planters in Florida last summer, it would seem that this 
caterpillar appears on their plantations more or less, 
almost, if not every year, and sometimes in a most un- 
accountable manner. Mr. E. Richards, of Cedar Keys, 
furnishes a statement which would seem to prove that it 
is migratory in its habits, as there is no other method of 
accounting for its sudden presence, except that, having 
previously existed on some other plant or weed, it had 
left it for food more congenial to its taste, although it has 
been asserted that the real caterpillar will eat nothing but 
cotton. He saj^s : "The last of July, 1845, these cater- 
pillars made their appearance in a small field of three or 
four acres of sea island cotton, planted on Way Key, as 
an experiment to see if cotton could be advantageously 
cultivated on the Keys, no other cotton having been pre- 
viously planted within eighty miles of them ; but the 
whole crop was devoured. The caterpillar was at the 




CO'lTON CATERPILLAR. 



Plate V. 



\ 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 169 

same time destroying the cotton in the interior of the 
country." 

In a statement made this season by Mr. William Mun- 
roe, of Gadsden county, Florida, to the Agricultural De- 
partment of the Patent Office, he appears to think sea 
island cotton not so liable to be attacked as the short 
staple, when the two varieties are planted together. In 
his letter he says : " I observed, when I had two fields of 
cotton adjoining, the one short staple and the other sea 
island, and the cotton caterpillars made their appearance, 
that they always destroyed the short-staple cotton first. 
Four years ago my crop was destroyed by the worm, and 
at that time they ate every green leaf on the short-staple 
cotton before they attacked the sea island. This year 
(1855) my short-staple crop was destroyed by the worm, 
on the Appalachicola river, and I observed that after the 
short-staple crop was all eaten, several sea island stalks in 
the field, at a little distance, seemed to be iminjured ; but, 
upon close examination, it was found that the worm had 
just commenced upon them. My impression, from the 
above observation is, that if we in this country were to 
confine ourselves to the production of the sea island cotton, 
the attack of the caterpillar would be much less frequent^ 
or would probably altogether cease." 

In regard to the periodical visitations of these cater- 
pillars. Dr. Capers remarks that their first appearance, as 
destroyers of cotton, was in the year 1800, and that m 
1804 the crops were almost destroyed by them. A snow- 
storm occurred, however, and swept them away ; but they 
were found the succeeding seasons, though in smaller num- 
bers. In 1825 they were spreading, but perished again by 
a storm. In 1826 they destroyed the crops. The first 
notice of them in this year was on the first of August, at 



170 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

St. Helena. Soon after they were found on all the sear 
coast, from New Orleans to North Carolina. On the 23d 
of the same month they had destroyed almost all the cot- 
ton leaves, but suddenly left the plant, though not for the 
purpose of webbing, as many of them were young. The 
cause of their sudden disappearance is stated to have been 
that they were too much exposed to the powerful effects 
of the sun, in consequence of the plants being nearly des- 
titute of foliage, and not protecting them from its direct 
rays. 

Colonel Benjamin F. Whitner, of Tallahassee, has also 
written an interesting article on the depredations of this 
caterpillar in that vicinity, "In 1835," says he, "the 
crops were entirely exempt from the ravages of the cater- 
pillar. In 1836 it appeared by the first of October, but 
did no harm. In 1837 no mention is made of it. These 
notes were made in Madison county, Florida." 

Colonel Whitner then moved to Leon county, in the 
same State, where, in 1838, the caterpillar appeared early 
in August. The second brood stripped the plants by the 
20th of September, and were so numerous that, after de- 
vouring the entire foliage, they barked the limbs and 
stalks, and ate out bolls nearly grown. In 1839 they 
were less numerous, and appeared late. In 1840 they 
came out from the 15th to the 20th of July, and, by the 
6th of September, the plants were stripped of their leaves 
and young bolls, so that the entire crop was less than half 
of the average of other years. In 1841 this caterpillar 
was seen in Madison county from the 15th to the 20th of 
August, and in Leon county between the 20th of August 
and the 1st of September. The loss was serious, com- 
prising probably one-fifth of the crop. In 1842 no dam- 
age was done. In 1843 they appeared near Tallahassee 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 171 

on the 1st of August, and plantations were stripped by the 
15th of September. The crop was cut off from one-third 
to two-fifths by the caterpillar and storm. In 1844 the 
cotton-worm was found webbed up on the 13th of July, 
and by the 15th of September some plantations were en- 
tirely denuded ; yet, in other parts of the county, the rav- 
ages were only partial. In 1845 there was no appearance 
of the caterpillar. In 1846 it was found webbed up by 
the Yth of July. The second brood began to web up on 
the 26th of that month ; and by the 20th, the parts of the 
field in which the worm was first seen were found to be 
eaten out, and the fly, the worms, large and small, and the 
chrysalides, were discovered at the same time, a state of 
things never observed before. By the 5th of September 
the damage amounted to a loss of more than one-half of 
the crop. In 1847, although the fly was seen on the 16th 
of July, no injury was done to the crop. In 1848 it was 
but slightly injured ; but the year 1849 was particularly 
marked by the ravages of the caterpillar, as well as that 
of 1852. 

Colonel Whitner further observes that these worms 
appear in successive broods, and accomplish the cycle of 
their transformations in from twenty-six to thirty days, 
which has also been corroborated by others. 

A caterpillar hatched from the egg, under ray own in- 
spection, however, passed twenty days before webbing up ; 
but as it had been kept in confinement in a cold room,, 
most probably the growth was not so rapid as it would 
have been in the open air and exposed to the warmth of 
the sun. The skin was shed five times during the period 
of its growth, and on the twentieth day the caterpillar be- 
gan its web. 

In a very interesting communication from Mr. E. N. 



172 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

Fuller, of Edisto island, South Carolina, lie describes the 
depredations of the caterpillar in his neighborhood as 
follows : 

" In 1840, I discovered their ravages, confined to the 
luxuriant portions of the fields near the sea-coast of this 
island. The larvae were destroyed in the latter part of 
September. In 1843 they were first heard of by the 1st 
of September, when their ravages, limited as in 1840, 
were quite perceptible at some distance. A frost on the 
18th of that month probably destroyed them. In 1846 
they appeared on the 20th of July ; and by the 10th of 
September, I suppose there was scarcely a cotton leaf or 
any tender portion of the plants remaining, and the worms, 
not fully gi'own, deserted the ravaged fields by millions in 
search of food, failing to find which they died from starva- 
tion. The crop of this island was about forty per cent, of 
an average one. In 1849 the caterpillars made their first 
appearance on the 2 2d of August ; their ravages this year 
being confined to the low spots, caused no injury of 
moment. In 1852 they were found on the 10th of Au- 
gust about forty miles to the southward, and on this island 
about the 20th of the same month. They disappeared 
here, however, without doing injury. 

" Thus they have appeared at regular intervals of three 
years. In 1855, when they were again looked for, an in- 
tense droiight from the early part of July was sufficient to 
prevent their increase, had they made their appearance. 
The old plantei-s say that m 1804 and in 1825 they ap- 
peared as in 1846 ; that is, in periods of twenty-one years, 

" As near as I can judge, not having made any record, 
the length of time from the hatching of the egg to the 
chrysalis is twelve days ; remaining four days in the chrys- 
alis state, and six days more to the hatching of the egg. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 1Y3 

This seems to be the case in a season of moisture and 
heat, without which their progress probably would be 
more slow." 

Among the many remedies recommended for this fly, 
or moth, fires and lights in the fields have been highly 
spoken of as attracting and destroying the miller. But 
even this may have its disadvantages, as Colonel Whitner, 
who has tried it, states that "it not only attracts the flies 
from other plantations, but that multitudes of moths per- 
ished in the flames." An article likewise appeared in 
some of the Southern papers, not long since, recommend- 
ing white cotton flags about a yard square, to be placed 
in the field, by which the moths are attracted, and upon 
which they deposit their eggs. Plates similar to those 
recommended for the boll-worm have also been used with 
partial success. But to destroy this pest, it will be neces- 
sary to ascertain exactly the date of the appearance of the 
first moths, and then to exterminate them in the best man- 
ner, and as quickly as possible. Could not some favorite 
aliment be found on which the moth prefers to feed, as in 
the case of the tobacco-fly, and then poison them with 
some effective agent ? Tliis would at once rid the fields 
of the first broods of moths, the progeny of which, in the 
second and third generations, might devastate half the fer- 
tile plantations of the South. 

The Grass Caterpillar. 

Another insect, which is often found in cotton fields, 
and mistaken for the real cotton caterpillar, is commonly 
known by the trivial name of the " grass-worm " or " cater- 
pillar," owing to the circumstance of its most natural food 
consisting of grass and weeds, although, when pressed by 
hunger, it will sometimes eat the leaf of the cotton plant. 



174 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

These caterpillars were very aumerous in the vicinity 
of Columbus, in Georgia, about the end of September and 
the beginning of October, 1854. They devoured grass, 
young grain, and almost every green thing which came in 
their path. Instances have been known in which, urged 
as they were by necessity and starvation, they actually de- 
voured stacks of fodder that were stored away for winter 
consumption. Deep ditches cut in the earth to stop them 
were immediately filled up by the multitudes which fell in 
and perished, while eager millions still rushed over the 
trembling and half-living bridge, formed by the bodies of 
their late companions, bent on their mission of destruction 
and devastation. 

These caterpillars do no essential injury to the cotton, 
especially when weeds abound, as they content themselves 
■with the grass growing between the rows ; and, unless very 
numerous, they cannot be classed among those doing much 
harm to the general crop, and are mentioned here princi- 
pally as having been so frequently mistaken for the real 
cotton caterpillar. "When pressed by necessity, however, 
as has already been stated, they will feed upon cotton 
leaves. I raised about thirty of them upon this food alone, 
merely as an experiment, and they grew and perfected 
their transformations, although appearing to prefer a grass 
diet if it could be obtained. When about to change, they 
formed cocoons of silk under stones or in the ground near 
the surface, interwoven with particles of earth, and came out 
perfect moths from the 24th to the 30th of October ; and, 
as these specimens were kept in a room without artificial 
heat, I conjectured that those in the open fields would ap- 
pear about the same time. 

At a plantation in the vicinity of Columbus, where the 
caterpillars were very numerous, and had already devoured 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 175 

all the grass oq one side of a field, which was divided into 
two equal parts by a broad and sandy carriage-road passing 
through the centre of it, the grass on the other side having 
been untouched, it was interesting to observe the opera- 
tions of numerous colonies of ants that had formed their 
holes or nests in the road, and were lying in wait for any 
unfortunate grass-worm, the natural desire of which for a 
fresh supply of food should tempt it to cross this danger- 
ous path. Fu'st, one ant more vigilant than the rest would 
rush to the attack; then another, and another, until the 
poor caterpillar, entirely covered by its pigmy foes, and 
completely exhausted in strength by its unavailing efforts 
to escape, was finally obliged to succunib to superior num- 
bei-s and die as quietly as possible, when the carcass was 
immediately carried off by the captors to their nests, or, 
when too heavy to be dragged away at once, they fed upon 
it as it lay in the road. This warfare was carried on every 
day as long as the grass-worms prevailed, and no doubt 
their numbers were diminished in this way to a consider- 
able extent. 

The gTass-caterpillars, when in confinement^ very often 
km and devour each other; and, when one is maimed in 
the least, it stands a very poor chance for its life. Several 
intelligent planters state that, when the grass and weeds 
are entirely devoured, and no other vegetable food is to be 
found, they will attack each other and feed upon the still 
living and writhing bodies of their former companions. 
One grass-caterpillar which was kept in confinement, al- 
though furnished with an abundance of green food, actually 
appeared to prefer to feed upon other caterpillars, no mat- 
ter of what kind, so long as their bodies were not defended 
by long, bristling hairs, or spines. 

The grass-caterpillar is fi"om an inch and a half to an 



176 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

inch and three-quarters in length. A longitudinal light- 
brownish line runs down the centre, and two yellow lines 
along each side of the back, which is somewhat veined 
with black lines, and is of a dark color, marked with black 
spots, from each of which grows a short bristle, or hair. 
Below these yellow stripes, the sides are of a dark color, 
almost black ; beneath this, extends a light-colored line, in 
which the spiracles are placed ; the lower part of the body 
is of a dirty green, spotted with black ; the head is black, 
marked with two lines of a yellowish color, forming an 
angle on the top ; the body is somewhat hairy. This 
caterpillar has six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal feet. 

The above description applies only to the brightest- 
colored specimens of the grass-worm, as they vary much in 
color and markings, some of them being almost black, and 
showing indiscriminately their stripes. The chrysalis is 
brownish black, and is formed in a cocoon of silk under 
the ground, the sand and small pebbles being so interwoven 
with it as to cause the whole cocoon to appear like an 
ovoid ball of earth ; but it is never found webbed up in 
the leaves, as is the case with the true cotton-caterpillar, 
already described. The moth measures about an inch and 
one-fifth across the wings, when they are expanded ; the 
upper wings are gray, slightly clouded with a darker color, 
and a lighter spot or ring is faintly seen in the centre ; the 
under-wings are of a yellowish white, shaded with gray 
along the margin, near the upper-wings. 

Specimens of these caterpillars were brought to me 
when at Savannah, in Georgia, and they were suspected to 
have injured the rice in that vicinity in the month of June. 
Colonel Whitner, of Tallahassee, speaks of the grass-cater- 
pillar as having stripped fields of grass, in 1845, and also 
as attacking the corn, sugar-cane, and upland rice. It has 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 177 

likewise been said that an insect similar, if not identical 
with the grass-caterpillar, destroys the leaves of the sweet 
potato. Thus it appears to be almost omnivorous, and 
not choice in its selection of food, like the true cotton 
caterpillar, which is believed to confine itself to the cotton 
plant alone. 

The grass-worm cannot be classed among those insects 
very injurious to cotton, although instances have been 
known where it has destroyed the foliage to some extent. 
It is more especially mentioned here as being found in 
cotton fields, and often confounded with the true cotton 
caterpillar. The difference, however, is more plainly de- 
scribed under the head of the latter. 

The same remedies are applicable to this insect as have 
been suggested for the boll-worm caterpillar, or any other 
night-flying moth. 

The Red Spider. — (Acarus?) 

Much injury is done to the cotton leaf by a minute red 
spider, which presents very much the appearance of in- 
cipient rust, except that the leaf is of a more rusty brown 
in spots, instead of the bright yellow of the real rust. This 
red spider principally attacks the under side of the leaf, the 
spots caused by its punctures turning brown, and finally in- 
creasing until it is completely stung all over, and falls from 
the plant. 

This insect is extremely minute, and when on the leaf 
it can scarcely be discerned by the naked eye. Some of 
the young appear to be of a greenish cast ; but when they 
are advanced in age the abdomen assumes a dark crimson 
shade, with darkeii maroon spots upon its upper surface. 
The legs, which are hairy, are eight in number. 

This family of the mites [Acari) do much injury to 
8* 



178 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

vegetable life, as they are so extremely minute as to escape 
the notice of the superficial observer. When they infest 
grape houses, or rose-bushes, it has been recommended to 
dust the leaves while moist with flowers of sulphur. 

The Drop or Hang Worm. — [(Eceticus?) 

The " drop-worm," as it is commonlj'^ called, is occa- 
sionally found upon the cotton leaf, but generally infests 
the arbor-vitee, larch, and hemlock-spruce. It is also found 
upon many of the deciduous-leaved trees, such as the lin- 
den, negundo, and maple. Dr. Harris states that the fe- 
male worm never quits her case, but lays her eggs in the 
skin of the chrysalis, in which she herself also remains until 
the eggs are all deposited, when she closes the end with 
down, and crawls out of the case and dies. These eggs 
being hatched, the young wonns, after they are hatched, 
make little silken cocoons, open at both ends, and are cov- 
ered with fragments of leaves, twigs, etc., in which they 
conceal themselves, and drag them about wherever they 
move. These cases are enlarged as. the insects increase in 
size, and are still carried about by the worms. When they 
change their places, they protrude their heads, the first 
three segments of the body, and six legs, from one end of 
the case ; but when the insects wish to rest, each case is 
fastened by a few threads to the leaf or branch, and they 
retreat within. When shaken from the tree by an accident 
or by high winds, the worms are able to suspend them- 
selves by means of small threads, and hang in the air ; 
hence the name. When young, they are often blown from 
tree to tree, and thus carried to a considerable distance 
from the place where they were hatched. 

The males and their cases are much smaller than those 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 179 

of the females, the worm being only about an inch in 
length. The first three segments of the body are whitish, 
marked with black Unes and spots ; the segments where 
they join are brownish ; the head is marked with wavy 
lines of black on a white ground ; the rest of the body is 
of a dirty, blackish green. It has six pectoral feet, by 
means of which it moves from leaf to leaf, with its body 
and case, the latter either perpendicularly suspended in the 
air or dragged by the worm from behind- There are eight 
very small ventral and two anal feet, by means of which it 
clings to the inside of the case. The chrysalis measures 
about three-quarters of an inch in length, and contains the 
rudiments of wings, legs, head, and antennae, like other 
moths, and is of a dark brown. The perfect moth comes" 
out in autumn, and measures across the expanded Avings 
about an inch and three-twentieths. Its body is downy, 
and of a blackish brown ; the wings are semi-transparent, 
and scantily clothed with blackish scales, which are black- 
est on the margins and veins', the antennae are covered at 
their tips, and are doubly feathered from the base to be- 
yond the middle. The female is much larger than the 
male, and never leaves her case, but changes into the per- 
fect insect in the shell of the chrysalis, and only emerges 
from it when the eggs are laid within. The young, after 
leaving their maternal case, in the spring, immediately 
commence their cases, and spread over the native tree oi 
any others that may happen to stand near. 

These insects are a great nuisance wherever they once 
get established, as they are exceedingly prolific. One fe- 
male chrysalis case, which was dissected, contained seven 
hundred and ninety eggs, while others have been found to 
contain nearly a thousand. 

These pests are very rarely seen on the cotton plant, 



180 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

and even when sucli is the case, they may have been blown 
there from the cedars, maples, or other deciduous-leaved 
trees in the woods on the edges of the plantations. They 
are the more particularly mentioned here, from the fact 
that, if taken in time, they may easily be exterminated on 
deciduous-leaved shade-trees ; for, as I have before stated, 
the female cases contain all the eggs, which may be seen 
in winter hanging on the branches when the leaves have 
fallen, and even are large enough to be distinguished when 
on evergreens. It would therefore require but little trouble 
to pull them off in the autumn and winter, and burn them, 
so that neither males nor females should escape. If this 
course were pursued two or three years in succession, there 
would not be so many complaints in our cities about the 
drop-worms destroying the foliage of the trees. 

The Corn Emperor-Moth. — (Satumia to.) 

The foliage of the cotton plant is also eaten by the 
caterpillar of a large moth. This spiny and stinging 
caterpillar is often found upon the leaf of cotton in Septem- 
ber ; it feeds likewise upon the blades of Indian corn, and 
the leaves of the willow, balsam-poplar, dogwood, and 
many other trees. Whenever one of them is found in a 
field, the plants attacked by it may be easily distinguished 
by their leafless appearance in the midst of the otherwise 
green and flourishing vegetation, as it rarely quits a plant 
before it is completely denuded. Often, however, those 
which have lost tlteir leaves from the rust present much 
the same blighted appearance; but, in this case, the 
numerous yellow, withered leaves, which are scattered on 
the ground, at once indicate the disease. 

Tke thorny spines with which these caterpillars are 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 181 

armed liave a peculiarly poisonous property, and are capa- 
ble of inflicting painful and severe wounds, similar to the 
sting of a wasp. It is therefore necessary, if the insects 
require to be touched, to use a stick or branch, when 
removing them from the plants on which they feed. 

These caterpillars cannot be classed among those very 
injurious to cotton, as they do not appear to be sufficiently 
numerous to effect much damage. Very few complaints 
have been made about them by the planters either of 
Georgia or South Carolina; but this year (1855) the 
same caterpillar was found very abundant in the cotton 
fields near Tallahassee, but the damage done by them was 
trifling. 

Mr. Newman, of Philadelphia, who has paid much 
attention to the breeding of caterpillars, states that this 
insect is found on the willow. Dr. Harris says, they are 
also found upon the balsam-poplar and elm, in Massa- 
chusetts ; and, according to Smith and Abbot, in their 
" Insects of Georgia," it is found on the dogwood, sassafras, 
and Indian com, which are devoured by them. 

This caterpillar is from two inches and a quarter to 
two inches and three-quarters in length ; but, as Dr. Harris 
has minutely described them, I will quote his own words : 

"The caterpillars are of a pea-green color, with a 
broad, brown stripe, edged below with white, on each side 
of the body, beginning on the fourth segment and ending at 
the tail. They are covered with spreading clusters of green 
prickles, tipped with black, and of a uniform length. Each 
of these clusters consists of about thirty prickles, branching 
from a common centre, and there are six clusters on each 
of the rings, except the last two, on which there are only 
five, and on the first four rings, on each of which there is 
an additional cluster low down on each side. The feet are 



182 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

brown, and there is a triangular brown spot on the under- 
side of each ring, beginning at the fourth." The brown 
stripe mentioned by Dr. Harris is often of a reddish brown, 
and, in high-colored and healthy individuals, I have seen it 
almost of a carmine red. 

The caterpillars are gregarious when young ; but, when 
older, they are solitary. When fully grown, they form ' a 
brownish cocoon of a gummy substance among the leaves, 
resembling parchment. The perfect moth comes out the 
following spring. It is said that there are two broods of 
these insects in a season, in the Southern States ; but I 
have not observed the caterpillars on cotton later than 
September. 

The chrysalis is broviTi, and of a short, thick form, with 
a number of hooked bristles on the tail. 

The following is Dr. Harris's description of the moths : 
" They sit with their wings closed and covering the body 
like a low roof, the front edge of the under-wings extend- 
ing a little beyond that of the upper-wings and curving 
upward. The sexes differ both in color and si^ie; the 
male, which is the smallest, is of a deep or Indian-yellow 
color ; on its fore-wings there are two oblique, wavy lines 
toward the hind margin, a zigzag line near the base, and 
several spots so arranged on the middle as to form the 
letters a h, all of a purplish-red color. The hind-wings 
are broadly bordered with purplish red, next to the body, 
and near the hinder margin there is a narrow curved band 
of the same color. Within this band, there is a curved, 
black line, and on the middle of the wing a large, round, 
blue spot, having a broad black border and a central white 
dash. The fore-wings of the female are of a purplish 
brown, mingled with gray ; the zigzag and wavy lines 
across them are also gray, and the lettered space in the 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 183 

middle is replaced by a brown spot surrounded by an 
irregular gray line. The hind-wings resemble those of the 
male in color and markings ; the thorax and legs are 
purplish brown, and the abdomen is ochrey yellow, with a 
narrow, purplish-red band on the edge of each wing. 
These moths expand fi'om two inches and three-quarters to 
three inches and a half." 

Tlie only method that can be taken to destroy these 
insects would be to kiU the moths when and wherever 
found, and to strike the caterpillars from the plants and 
then crush them under foot. Although they cannot prop- 
erly be classed among the insects very injurious to cotton, 
not being sufficiently numerous to do much harm, yet, if 
left undisturbed, they may so increase as to become a 
nuisance to the planter both of cotton and corn. 

The Cotton Tortrix. — {Tortrix?) 

"When the margins of the leaf of the cotton plant are 
found rolled up and fastened to the main part by means of 
a loose web of silk, it is often discovered to be the work of 
the small tortrix, which makes this shady retreat in order 
to shelter itself from the sun and rain, as likewise for a 
place of concealment from birds and other enemies. 
Sometimes, however, these leaves are similarly rolled up 
by a spider, as a suitable nest or receptacle for its eggs ; 
but, when this is the case, the inside will be found to con- 
tain a silken bag in which the eggs either have been or are 
about to be deposited. 

When disturbed, this caterpillar always retires into its 
place of shelter, and, if forcibly driven out, it is able to 
retreat backward from the open end, and to suspend itself 
in the air by a thread, which issues from its mouth, having 



184 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

previously fastened the other end of this thread to the leaf 
from which it had fallen. The leaves attacted by this 
moth can be distinguished from those that are perfect, by 
their roUed-up and distorted appearance ; and either this 
insect, or one very similar in habits and appearance, some- 
times attacks the young and tender ends of the cotton- 
shoots, which are often seen webbed up into a mass and 
partially eaten out. 

The caterpillar, when Ml grown, is about an inch in 
length, of a bright-green color, with a brownish or black 
head, and has a helmet-shaped black mark on the first 
segment of the body. It has six pectoral, eight ventral^ 
and two anal feet ; the two anterior pair of pectoral ones 
being dark-colored. 

The chrysalis measures from three-fifths to seven-tenths 
of an inch in length, is of a brown color, somewhat spiny, 
and furnished with four hooks at the end of the tail, by 
which it is enabled to hold fast to its web. The chrysalides 
are formed in semi-transparent cocoons of loose silk 
among the leaves; and in about fourteen days, the perfect 
moths come out. The moth at rest has a somewhat bell- 
shaped appearance, the upper-wings suddenly becoming 
quite broad a short distance from the thorax. They are 
of a chestnut-brovra color, with an oblique dark-brown 
band forming an obtuse angle near the middle ; and, on 
the inner margin of each wing, a rather more indistinct 
band runs near the body. The tips are also banded with 
dark brown. The under-wings are yellow, with a blackish- 
colored mark on their margins and sides, while the under- 
side is yellow and more or less shaded. 

I should judge, from the small numbers of these cater- 
pillars, that they do comparatively little if any injury to 
the main crop, and no doubt the moths would be attracted 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 185 

by lights or fires placed in the field at night, as recom- 
mended for the moth of the cotton caterpillar. The same 
plan would also serve to diminish their numbers, should 
they ever increase. 

The Yellow Caterpillar. 

There is a yellow, hairy caterpillar found on the cotton 
plant in September and October, which devours the leaf. 
The specimens observed in South Carolina and Georgia 
appeared to be of solitary habits, not congregating together, 
like the cotton caterpillar and grass-worm, but feeding 
alone on the plant. 

The young of these insects are of a much lighter color 
than those nearer matimty. The ground color of the old 
caterpillar is yellow, profusely specked and shaded with 
small black dots ; a yellow longitudinal line runs along the 
side below the spiracles ; on each segment of the body rise 
numerous small yellowish-brown excrescences, or warts, 
from which issue tufts of long brownish-black hairs. The 
head is black, with a yellow stripe running down the mid- 
dle. It has six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal feet. 
The cocoons are ovoid in shape, formed on or near the 
surface of the ground, and constructed of silk intermingled 
with gravel, particles of soil, and the hairs from their own 
bodies. These caterpillars are reputed to be capable of 
stinging ; but as I repeatedly handled them with impunity, 
their poison, if any, cannot be very powerful. 

The chrysalides, which are dark brown, approaching to 
black, appeared about the end of September, and were 
quite short and thick. I cannot describe the perfect moth, 
as, unfortunately, the chrysalides did not live to perfect 
their last transformation. These caterpillars, although 
described as infesting cotton, cannot be classed amongst 



186 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

those very injurious, as they do not appear in numbers 
suflScient to injure the general crop. 

There is a red, hairy caterpillar of like characteristics, 
that sometimes eats the cotton leaf, but which it is un- 
necessary to describe here. 

The Cotton Arctia. — [Arctia ?) 

A species of arctia was also found in Tallahassee, in 
the month of July, upon the cotton plant ; but, most prob- 
ably, the parent moth had wandered away from its more 
natural food, as the identical kind of caterpillar was found 
at the sam€ time upon the brambles by the roadside near 
that place. The plant attacked, however, was in the mid- 
dle of the field, and not near any brambles or weeds, on 
which the eggs might have been laid. The bare stem and 
branches of the cotton were covered with the unsightly 
web, and all but a few straggling caterpillars had dis- 
appeared, having probably webbed up preparatory to the 
final change. 

The full-grown caterpillar is from an inch and one- 
tenth to an inch and three-tenths in length ; the back dark- 
colored, and covered with tufts of long, blackish-gray hairs ; 
the sides are of a pale-greenish color, with a line between 
the black and green distinctly marked ; the six pectoral feet 
and head are black, and the ventral and two anal ones are 
green. 

The chrysalides were formed on the 24th of July, in 
cocoons or loose webs, intermingled with their own hair, 
and spun under the loose leaves. They were nearly half an 
inch in length, short and thick in form, and brown in 
color. The moths came out in about twelve or fourteen 
days. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 187 

The wings of the male measure, when expanded, from 
nine-tenths of an inch to an inch across, and are white, 
with one or two black dots near the centre of the upper 
pair ; the eyes are black ; the antennae feathered, and the 
two fore-legs of an orange color. 

The female is much larger than the male, measuring 
about an inch and one-fifth across the expanded wings. 
She is very similar to the male in color, but has no black 
spot on the upper-wing ; nor are the antennae feathered as 
in the male. 

I consider, from the circumstances under which the 
nest, or web, of caterpillars was found, that it was accident 
alone which caused their presence on the cotton, as I have 
never seen them before nor since, in any number, among 
the plants. Therefore, they may be classed among 
those insects which cause little or no harm to the general 
crop. 

These moths are similar to the Arctia textor of Harris, 
but appear to differ from them in the spots on the upper- 
wings of the male, and in some other slight particulars. 
The habit of webbing up the limbs is also the same. 

INSECTS FOUND ON THE TERMINAL SHOOTS. 

The insects attacking the terminal shoots of the cotton 
plant are at present very little known ; but when their 
habits shall have been more thoroughly investigated, there 
is no doubt that they will be found to be much more de- 
structive than is generally supposed. 

No practical planter can have passed through his cotton 
fields, without frequently observing that the tenninal leaves 
of many of the plants have been webbed up and eaten out, 
or that many of the young blossoms have suddenly turned 



188 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

brown, or " flared " open, and, on the slightest touch, fall 
to the ground. Some of this damage may no doubt be 
caused by excessive moisture or heat, or by an unhealthy 
state of the plant itself. But if the ends of all the shoots 
be closely examined, it will generally be found that several 
minute insects lie hidden between the folds of the leaves 
and buds, probably feeding upon the tender foliage, or 
extracting the sap. The Aphis, or cotton-louse, is often 
found in such places. 

The Pea-Green Caterpillar. 

In the cotton fields near Tallahassee many of the tender 
leaves and young blossoms of vigorous and healthy plants 
were observed to be webbed together in a mass. Upon 
opening one of them, a small caterpillar, between three- 
fifths and seven-tenths of an inch in length, was discovered 
feeding upon the interior. This caterpillar is of a pea- 
green color, with a dark longitudinal stripe running down 
the middle of the back, and a row of two dark spots with 
white centres to each on every segment of the body, except 
the first, running parallel on each side of the dark stripe. 
Tlie head is black ; the first segment of the same color, 
with a dividing line of white between it and the head, and 
another light division between this and the second segment. 
The pectoral feet are black, and the body sparingly clothed 
with short bristles, or hairs. 

This caterpillar, for the most part, lives and feeds in 
the terminal shoots; but I have found it webbed up be- 
tween the outer calyx and boll of the cotton, or in the 
calyx of the flower. 

The chrysalis, which is of a light-brown color, is about 
two-fifths of an inch in length, and is fonned in the same 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 189 

webbed-up terminal shoot wbicb sensed the caterpillar as a 
shelter. It shed the caterpillar skin about the 27th of 
September, and the perfect moth came out in about ten 
days. 

The moth, when expanded, measures from three-fifths 
to seven-tenths of an inch across the wings; the body and 
thorax are of a brown color ; the upper-wings light brown, 
with a band of darker brown running obliquely across 
them near the centre (one specimen had two dark oblique 
lines on the upper-wing) ; a dark triangular mark occurs 
on the upper side of the wing, between the margin and 
band, and the margin itself is of a dark brown ; the under- 
wings are of a yellowish brown ; the under side of the 
wings is brown, marked crosswise by darker lines, giving it 
somewhat a marbled appearance; and the antenna? are 
threadlike. The distinguishing feature of this small moth 
is the very long and dark-colored palpi, which are some- 
what curved upward, and project from the front of the 
head like a trunk. 

The damage done by these small insects is not so ap- 
parent at first as that caused by those of a larger size, such 
as the boll-worm and others ; yet, no doubt, many of the 
buds and leaves on the terminal shoots are destroyed by 
them. These webbed-up leaves, however, must not be 
confounded with the webs made by numerous small spiders, 
which also select such places for their abodes, and no doubt 
do good by destroying many young caterpillars and moths. 

The Cotton Lygjeus. — {Lygceus?) 

Young cotton-buds are frequently observed at the end 
of the terminal shoots, turning brown, and eventually 
dropping oft". This has been attributed to the agency of 



190 DISEASBS OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

the young larvae of the " bore-worm," or "boll-worm," which 
certainly are sometimes found in the terminal shoots of 
cotton ; but, when this is the case, the buds are generally 
either eaten from the outer calyx, or the bud itself perfo- 
rated, and the former flaring open; whereas, the buds 
which turn black, as before described, are closely enveloped 
in the outer calyx, and present a triangular form, with a 
dry and dark-brown appearance. 

Upon close examination, a number of extremely minute 
lai-vse, measuring a little over one-twentieth of an inch in 
length, were found in the injured shoots. The insects, 
when confined in a bottle with some young terminal cotton 
shoots and buds, to ascertain if they really injured the plant, 
were observed immediately to attack each other with great 
animosity ; and, in a short time, one of the strongest larvae 
killed and sucked out the juices from three of its compan- 
ions, and also from a cotton-louse which had been placed 
in the glass. The same insect, however, was afterward 
plainly seen, on several occasions, to suck sap from the ter- 
minal shoot and young buds ; and as there were no more 
insects for it to feed upon, it must necessarily have per- 
fected its growth and transformations afterward on vege- 
table juices alone. Almost every terminal shoot which 
was diseased, had in it one or more of these minute larvae 
or perfect insects. 

The pupae are of a reddish brown, about one-twentieth 
of an inch in length, with eyes of a reddish-brown color. 
The perfect insect is rather more than one-twentieth of an 
inch in length, also with reddish-brown eyes, yellowish an- 
tennae, and a head and thorax black ; the triangular space 
between the wings is black ; the wings are brownish yellow, 
barred in the centre with two triangular black marks ; the 
ends of wings diamond-shaped, of a light color ; the upper 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 191 

part of the thigh is black, and the rest of the leg yel- 
lowish. 

Tliis insect is more especially mentioned here in order 
to draw attention to the various tribes which attack the 
terminal shoots of cotton, as at present very little appears 
to be known about them, and immense numbers of young 
buds dry up and fall in the manner mentioned above, un- 
observed from their minute size. Many of them are, no 
doubt, cast in consequence of atmospheric and various 
other causes, but as this small insect has been observed 
sucking the juices from the plant, it may be found that 
several others do the same thing in different localities. 
The young boll-woi-m is, no doubt, found in these shoots ; 
but I very much doubt whether the fallen blackened buds 
are owing to injuries received from it, as will be seen in the 
article on that worm. It is true, the young boll-woi-m 
causes many immature forms to drop, but in such cases the 
bud attacked generally shows where the injury has been 
done by a small puncture. 

As several of the Reduvii or Cimicidce have the power 
of stinging man and animals in a very severe manner, with 
their probosces, or piercers, may they not in some measure 
possess the same power over vegetable life ? The question 
is merely asked to lead to further inquiries on the subject. 

Sap-Suckers. 

Another insect found in the young shoots and newly 
formed bolls, the color of which is green ; the eyes reddish 
brown ; the legs green, with the thighs red ; the antennae 
are four-jointed, and also green, with red at the end of 
each joint. The pupa is about a quarter of an inch, and 
the perfect insect is seven-twentieths of an inch, in length ; 



192 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

the antennae are brown and green, the eyes brown ; the 
thorax somewhat triangular ; the anterior part green and 
shaded with reddish brown posteriorly ; the legs, brown 
and green ; the wing-cases with a cross, shaped like the 
letter X, forming four triangles, those nearer the thorax be- 
ing reddish brown ; the side triangles are green. 

I observed these insects, when confined under glass, 
sucking the sap from the buds and young bolls, their only 
food. The young eventually completed their transforma- 
tions into perfect insects. They were observed, moreover, 
to eject large drops of green sap from their abdomens, 
which could only have been procured from the buds them- 
selves. As it has been already seen that these insects 
puncture the bolls and extract the juices therefrom, the 
question arises whether they do any material injury, either 
by this extraction of the sap, or by a poisonous sting, like 
some of the Reduvii. 

There is likewise another of the same species of insect, 
which was found perforating the young flower-buds and 
bolls of the cotton, similar to the above. The head and 
anterior portion of the thorax are reddish brown, the re- 
mainder of the thorax yellow, with a double dark mark in 
the middle ; the wing-cases are brownish black, with two 
longitudinal lines from the upper outside corner of the 
wing-cases to the posterior edge, forming a dividing mark 
somewhat shaped like the letter X. 

The Cektrinus Perscillus. 

This insect is about three-twentieths of an inch in 
length, of a grayish color, with a rather long, curved ros- 
trum, or bill ; was found in the terminal shoots, as well as 
in the blossom ; but I could not perceive that in any way 
it injured the plant. I have also seen very young boll- 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 193 

worms in tlie terminal shoots, but, upon examination, I 
have generally found the egg deposited upon the outer 
calyx of a young bud or boll, the parenchyma, or tender 
succulent substance, of which was mostly eaten, and the 
young bud pierced or its contents sacked or eaten out. 



INSECTS FOUND ON THE FLOWER. 

The flower of the short-staple cotton is of a yellowish- 
white color the first day of its blooming ; it then gradually 
assumes a pinkish tinge toward its outer edge ; the second 
day it partially closes, turns pink, and presents such an en- 
tirely different appearance that it can scarcely be recognized 
as the same flower. 

There are several insects which infest this flower, or 
" bloom," as it is frequently termed, some for the sake of 
the nectar, or honey ; others for the pollen ; and a few for 
the corolla itself. 

The Blister-Fly. — [Cantharis strigosa.) 

Several blister-flies, or cantharides, found in Columbia, 
South Carolina, were seen to devour the petals of the cot- 
ton flower. One of these insects is a little more than half 
an inch in length, of a reddish-brown color, with the eyes 
and a spot on the head black. Two long black marks are 
seen on the thorax, and two longitudinal stripes, also black, 
on each wing-case ; the legs and antennae are black ; and 
the abdomen protrudes somewhat beyond the wing-cases. 
Some of them are smaller than others, measuring not 
quite half an inch in lengih, and are of a rusty ash-gray 
white ; others are of the same color, but with two broad, 
longitudinal black stripes on the elytrse. The two last 
9 



194 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

inentioned vary so mucli in the distinctness of their stripes, 
some of them being the medium between the perfectly 
gray and the striped, that it is somewhat diflBcult to deter- 
mine whether they are the same insect or not. The under- 
wings are clouded, and nearly black. 

These insects, although they eat holes in the petals, do 
but little, if any, damage to the crop ; yet, together with 
the Chauliognathus, bees, and wasps, may perhaps be ben- 
eficial, as serving to fecundate many plants by carrying the 
pollen from flower to flower. 

The Cotton Chauliognathus. — (ChauUoffnafkus Pennsyl- 
vanicus.) 

Tliis insect does not appear to attack the petals in the 
same manner as the cantharides, just described, but con- 
tents itself with the pollen or nectar, which is found in the 
flower, where it may be often seen so much occupied in 
feeding as scarcely to take any notice of the approach of 
mankind. It is so plentifiil near Columbia, South Caro- 
lina, that four or six may be taken from one bloom alone. 
When issuing from the flower, they sometimes appear to 
be so abundantly powdered with pollen as to be perfectly 
yellow, and no doubt serve in some measure beneficially, 
as a medium for transporting the pollen and fertilizing 
other blooms. 

This insect is not quite three-quarters of an inch in 
length ; its head, eyes, and antennge are black ; its thorax, 
orange, with a large dark spot in the centre ; its wing-cases 
are orange yellow, with a black, longitudinal, broad stripe 
running down each, near the inner margin, leaving a nar- 
row inner and broad outer margin of yellow orange. This 
black stripe grows broader toward the abdomen, leaving a 



I 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLAJifT. 195 

narrow stripe, also of yellow, at the end of the elytrse. Its 
legs are black. 

The Yellow-margined-winged Chauliognathus. — 
( Chauliognathus marffinatus.) 

A small species of cliauliognatlius is found in Florida, 
where it appears to take the place of the last-mentioned 
insect, having the same habits, and occurring in the same 
places. It is nearly half an inch in length ; the head is 
orange yellow, with a black mark below the eyes, which 
are also black ; the thorax is yellow, with a longitudinal 
black mark down the centre ; the wing-cases are black, 
edged around the outer and inner margins and the end 
with orange yellow ; the lower part of the thighs is also 
orange yellow ; the upper part and rest of the legs and an- 
tennae are black. This insect frequents the flowers of the 
cotton, but, as yet, I have never discovered it doing any 
injm-y. 

The Delta-thoraxed Trichius. — (Trichius delta.) 

A small beetle, which is little more than two-fifths of 
an inch in length, is also found in cotton blooms, and some- 
times on the bolls. The head is black, including several 
white marks ; the thorax is also black, bordered with yel- 
low, containing a singular triangle of yellow lines, the 
lower end of which appears as if broken off; the wing- 
cases are reddish brown, with two oblique black spots on 
the upper, and two longitudinal black ones enclosing a 
yellowish mark on their lower parts ; the abdomen pro- 
trudes the twentieth part of an inch beyond the wing- 
cases, and is of a yellowish color ; the fore-legs are spiny 



196 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

and of a brown color ; the liincl-legs are very long, brown ; 
the ends of the tibse and tarsi black. 

From what has been seen of the habits of this insect, 
and its comparative scarcity, I should not regard it as 
injurious to the crop, and therefore I would class it 
amongst those insects frequenting the cotton, but not in- 
jurious to it. 

Twelve-spotted Galereuca. — (Galereuca duodecim- 
punctata.) 

A small leaf-beetle is often found in the young flowers 
of the cotton, where it gnaws holes in the petals. This in- 
sect is about three-tenths of an inch in length ; the head is 
black ; the thorax orange green ; the wing-cases greenish 
yellow, with six black spots on each ; the upper part of 
the thighs is green, and the rest of the leg dark-colored, or 
nearly black. 

Among the remedies suggested for destroying the 
striped cucumber-beetle (Galereuca vittata), Dr. B. S. Bar- 
ton, of Pennsylvania, recommends " sprinkling the vines 
with a mixture of red pepper and tobacco." Ground 
plaster and charcoal dust have also been recommended, 
as well as watering the vines with a solution of an ounce 
of glauber salts in a quart of common water, or tobacco 
water. An infusion of hops, elder, or walnut leaves, is said 
to be very useful ; as, likewise, sifting powdered soot 
upon the plants when they are wet with the morning dew. 
Others have advised sulphur and Scotch snuflf to be applied 
in the same way. 

Dr. Barton likewise states, that " as these insects fly by 
night as well as by day, and are attracted by lights, burn- 
ing splinters of pine knots, or of staves of tar-barrels, stuck 
in the ground during the night around the plants, have 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 197 

been found useful in destroying these beetles." Similar 
remedies might possibly apply to the twelve-spotted 
galereuca. 

As these insects are not suflBciently numerous to do 
any harm to the cotton crop, these remedies are merely 
mentioned as applying to the cucumber-beetle, or any 
other pests of the garden or fields, of similar habits. 

Span- Worms, or Loopers. — {Geometrce ?) 

Among the numerous insects which injure the flowers 
of the cotton plant may be found several caterpillars, many 
of which are of the kind tenned " loopers," or " span- 
worms," from their peculiar mode of locomotion. 

Near Columbus, in Georgia, I found a species of cater- 
pillar which were quite numerous, about an inch and a half 
in length, and of a bright-green color, eating the petals of 
the cotton flower, from the 12th of October to the 29th of 
November. They had six pectoral, four ventral, and two 
anal feet, and were obliged to loop their bodies when pro- 
gressing from place to place, after the manner of the so- 
called span-worms or loopers. Their bodies were green, 
and slightly hairy. The chrysalides were seven-tenths of 
an inch in length, and of a green color. The moth, with 
wings extended, measures about an inch and three-tenths, 
is of a shaded or clouded blackish brown, with a metallic, 
gold-colored semicircle near the centre of each upper-wing ; 
a round spot of the same color also lies close to it, but 
nearer the margin ; the under-wings and body are of the 
same blackish brown. When at rest, the upper-wings 
come together like the roof of a house ; a tuft of hair 
projects from the upper part of the thorax, and a smaller 
tuft is found near or between the junction of the wings, 
which appear to curve up toward the outer margin. 



198 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 



Another Caterpillar 

Is of the same habits, size, form, and color, except that 
it has a white longitudinal line running down each side. 
The chrysalis, however, is of a dark-brown color, whereas 
that of the preceding is always green, with dark-brown 
markings only on the thorax and back. The moth also is 
similar in shape and color — so much so, indeed, as to war- 
rant a belief that they may be different sexes of the same 
species, 

Mr. Peabody, of Columbus, states that this caterpillar 
was very destructive to the leaves of turnips in 1854. 
Several which were placed in confinement, were attacked 
by a singular and fatal disease. However healthy they ap- 
peared at first, they gradually assumed a lighter color, 
ceased feeding, became swollen, and, suspending them- 
selves by the hind feet to any projecting twig, very soon 
died and became putrid and black. 

These catei-pillars were quite plentiful in the vicinity of 
Columbus, but were not found in Florida the following 
year. They cannot be classed among insects very injurious, 
as they were not sufficiently numerous to harm the cotton. 

The Small Cotton Span- Worm. 

A very small looper-caterpillar, or span-worm, about 
seven-tenths of an inch in length, of a brown or greenish 
color, with five yellow and black markings or bands on the 
middle segments, and of about the thickness of a knitting- 
needle, was very numerous on the blossoms of cotton in 
Georgia during the month of October. 

These caterpillars have six pectoral, with only two 
ventral and two anal feet ; their mode of progression is by 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 199 

alternately stretcliing out and contracting the body in the 
form of an arch. They are thus enabled to advance nearly 
half their length every stride or step, and, from this cir- 
cumstance, derive their common name of " span-worm," or 
" looper." 

The favorite food of these insects appeared to consist 
of the petals. In some places they were very numerous, 
as many as four having been taken from one bloom alone. 
In color, they varied much from green to brown ; but both 
were similarly banded with another color. The chrysalides 
were fixed by the tail to the leaves with a glutinous matter 
or silk, and measured about seven-twentieths of an inch in 
length ; were of a brownish-green color, and remarkable 
for having the upper part of the thorax somewhat square, 
flat, and furnished with two minute protuberances, or 
spines, over the head and eyes. When disturbed, they 
instantly drop from the leaves, and suspend themselves in 
mid-air by means of a thread, which issues from the 
mouth; and although exceedingly abundant in one part 
of the field, yet they were scarcely to be found out of that 
particular spot. 

As these insects are very small, and eat holes in the 
petals of the flowers alone, they cannot injuriously affect 
the general crop. 

The Larger Span-Worm. 

Another span-worm, or caterpillar, appears in the Caro- 
linas, Georgia, and Florida early in October, and feeds 
upon the petals of the cotton flower. It measures, when 
fully grown, from an inch and a half to an inch and three- 
fourths in length ; the color is reddish brown, marked with 
faint, longitudinal darker stripes ; the head is somewhat 
angular, and divided at the top ; there is a light spot on 



200 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

each side, about the middle of the body, and two short 
excrescences, or warts, on the extremity. In several speci- 
mens there are white spots running down each side of the 
back. The chrysalis is a little more than half an inch in 
length, and is of a brownish color. The moth measures 
an inch and three-tenths across the expanded wings, which 
are of a light, clouded-gi-ay color, with an irregular, dark, 
oblique line rmming across the upper-wing, and two others, 
not quite so distinct, nearer the body. There is also a 
dark, oblique line, and another fainter one, crossing the 
under-wing ; the margins are scalloped with a darker color ; 
the antennae are feathered. 

This caterpillar feeds upon the petals of the cotton 
flower, and, when disturbed, assumes a stiff, erect attitude, 
in which it might easily be mistaken by men or birds, for 
a dried twig or stick. When about to change, in October, 
it descends into the earth, becomes a brownish chrysalis, 
and in about fourteen days the moth appears. 

The caterpillars are not very numerous, and therefore 
can do but little harm to the general crop. 

Another span-worm, somewhat similar to the above in 
shape and color, is very numerous in cotton fields, but feeds 
upon the bind-weed flower (Convolvulus), and does not 
disturb cotton. 

INSECTS FOUND UPON THE BOLL. ' 

During the time that cotton is maturing its seed-vessels, 
there are several insects of the " plant-bug " species found 
both upon the young and the old bolls ; but whether these 
insects have any thing to do in producing the rot, is a 
question which cannot be easily answered before further 
information shall have been collected upon the subject. I 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 201 

will here simply give the results of some experiments mad(. 
by me this season (1855) to determine whether any of 
these insects do or do not suck the sap from the bolls. In 
the month of October, several plant-bugs were caught, and 
placed singly in glass bottles, containing young and middle- 
sized bolls, and all of those hereafter described were 
observed with their piercers penetrating the bolls, and 
busily engaged sucking out the sap. 

The Green Plant-Bug. — [Pentatoma?) 

This insect is about seven-tenths of an inch in length, 
rather broad, and of a bright-green color ; the head is 
furnished with two ocelli on the upper part; the eyes are 
brown, and the scutellum, or triangular place between the 
wing-covers, is very large and also of a green color ; the 
upper part of the body, which is flattened, is margined 
with an edge of yellow, and has a black spot on the yellow 
edge of each segment. The piercer, which is long and 
jointed, when not in use, is recurved under the thorax ; 
the antennae are five-jointed. 

An insect was described by Mr. Bailey, of Monticello, 
in Florida, as being very numerous in his cotton fields ; 
and his overseer informed me that he had seen it in the 
very act of piercing a boll, which he afterward cut open, 
and found that the puncture had penetrated through the 
outer shell, or case of the boll, to the cotton, and that the 
mark where the piercer had penetrated was discolored. 
Those I had in confinement certainly were frequently seen 
with their trunks inserted into bolls, and sucking the sap. 

The larva is very similar to the perfect insect in shape 
and color, but smaller in size, and is not furnished with 
wings. The pupa possesses rudiments of wings only, and 
9* 



202 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

it is the perfect insect alone wliich, by means of a pair of 
under-wings, concealed beneath the wing-cases, is able to 
fly about and propagate its kind. 

The Gray Plant-Bug. — [Fentatoma ?) 

The spotted plant-bug is very much of the same shape 
as that last described, but is not so broad. It is gray, and 
marked with black dots and lines ; it is also smaller than 
the former, being only three-fifths of an inch in length ; 
the outer margin of the thorax is somewhat pointed or 
angular ; the scutellum, broad and triangular ; and the 
wings, when closed, terminate with a black, diamond- 
shaped mark, where they overlap ; there are two ocelli ; the 
antennae are five-jointed; and the appearance of the insect 
is flat, broad, and similar to the so-called " squash-bug " of 
the North. This insect was often seen with its piercer 
inserted into a boll, extracting the sap, which was ejected 
from the abdomen as a bright, greenish liquid. 

These insects were found plentifully on the cotton in 
Georgia, in 1854, and in Florida, in 1855. 

The Red-Edged- Winged Reduvius. — {Reduvius ?) 

A species of reduvius was found in abundance in the 
cotton fields of Florida, in 1855. The female measures a 
little more than three-fifths of an inch in length, and the 
male about half an inch. The head is of a grayish black ; 
the eyes prominent, black, and brilliant ; the antennae are 
four-jointed ; the thorax is triangular, with the angle 
toward the head, truncated, black, with an edging of red ; 
the wing-cases are reddish, spotted with black, and edged 
with red, with their ends, where they overlap, black; the 
legs are black from half way up the thighs, where they are 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 203 

red ; the under-wings are clouded with black veins. It so 
closely resembles the celebrated " red-bu;^ " of Eastern 
Florida that it has probably been mistaken for it by many 
planters, who have stated that the true red-bug is often 
found in Middle and Western Florida, where none are to 
be found, though I searched diligently for them. 

These insects, when confined in glasses, were not 
observed to feed upon the sap of the bolls, although it 
probably does some injury, like the much-dreaded red-bug 
alluded to above. 

The Light-Banded- Winged Anisoscelis. — [Anisoscelis ?) 

A species of anisoscelis was found in abundance in the 
cotton fields both of Georgia and Florida. It appeared to 
be very active and vigilant, as, however carefully approach- 
ed, it always flew away with a loud, humming sound. 
Several of these insects were observed on a large boll, 
apparently busily employed ; but when suddenly disturbed, 
they dispersed in different directions. Upon examining 
the boll, the sap was seen exuding from several minute 
punctures, which was attributed to these insects ha\ang 
bored into the boll for the sake of the vegetable juices con- 
tained therein. 

The larva, when young, is of a, light scarlet or crimson, 
with two black spots on the back, in which are two black, 
thorny excrescences, or points ; there are also four black, 
thorny excrescences on each side ; the legs, antennae, and 
eyes are black ; and the hind-legs thicker than the otliers. 

The pupa is brown, with its wing-cases only in an 
incipient state, and the tibiae of the hind-legs have already 
attained a broad, flattened appearance. 

The perfect insect is about seven-tenths of an inch in 



204 DISEASES OF THE COTTON I'LANT. 

length ; the anteniiie are four-jointed ; the eyes, prominent 
and brown ; the piercer four-jointed, and, when at rest, re- 
curved under the body ; the ocelli are two in number ; the 
thorax rising from the head, and somewhat angular on the 
margin ; the wing-covers are reddish brown, with a distinct 
yellowish-white band across the middle ; the anterior and 
middle legs are reddish brown ; the hind-legs, however, are 
very singular in shape, the thighs being thick and spiny 
on their under side, and the tibia furnished with a broad 
flattened enlargement on each side, larger on the upper one 
and somewhat wing-shaped, with two teeth, or notches, on 
the margin. This makes the insect appear to have hind- 
legs entirely out of proportion to its size. These insects 
are very numerous in cotton fields, and may be seen flying 
from plant to plant during the heat of the day. 

There are several other insects found upon cotton ; but 
those mentioned above are the most numerous. The ques- 
tion now arises whether they have any thing to do with the 
" rot," or whether that disease is caused by a peculiar state 
of the atmosphere, or by imperfections of the soil. May 
not the punctures made by these insects, in some peculiar 
seasons, incline the boll to the rot more readily than in 
others, though in more favorable seasons it may be made 
with comparative impunity ? A singular circumstance, 
however, is rather against the insect theory, namely, that, 
while some particular cotton-plant is observed to be much 
affected by the rot, the plants standing close to it may be 
comparatively free and healthy. On one diseased plant I 
counted seventeen rotted bolls, while the very next plants 
were green, and exhibited not the least sign of disease. 
The query as to whether the rot is caused by insects or the 
peculiar state of the soil or atmosphere, is here submitted 
for the purpose of inciting planters to make experiments, 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 205 

and to report their success, in order that we may soon 
come to a definite conclusion upon the subject. 

The Beownish-Black Anisoscelis. — (Anisoscelis ?) 

A very large anisoscelis, about an inch and one-fifth in 
length, and of a brownish black, I found quite numerous in 
the cotton fields of Florida. The head of this insect is 
brownish black, with prominent eyes ; the thorax rough, 
black, and somewhat triangular; the antennae, four-jointed; 
the legs, brown ; the thighs, brownish black and spiny ; the 
hind-legs, in appearance, entirely disproportionate in size 
to the insect ; with the thighs very stout, thick, and spiny, 
and the tibiae with broad, flattened, wing-shaped projec- 
tions ; the trunk is recurved under the thorax. 

These insects, though somewhat numerous, were never 
observed to suck the sap from the bolls ; yet it would be 
well to investigate their habits more minutely, before 
deciding whether they are injurious or not. 

The Daek-Shaded Cetonia. — (Cetonia melancholica.) 

This beetle is found on those bolls which have been 
bored into by the boll-worm, extracting the flowing sap 
from the lacerated sides of the wound. As many as five 
have been taken from the interior of a single boll, which 
had been previously hollowed out by the worm, and where 
the sap was flowing very freely. Some planters accuse 
them of making the holes in which they are found ; but 
most of the bolls examined by me had evidently previously 
been hollowed out, and the beetles had only entered for the 
sake of the extra vasated sap. Sometimes, however, they may 
60 abrade the skin of a boll as to cause a flow of juice, of 
which they will avail themselves, as I have occasionally 



206 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

observed solitary individuals sucking the sap under very 
suspicious circumstances, where no previous wound had 
been made by the worm. They can do but little hai-m, 
however, to the crop. 

This beetle is rather more than half an inch in length ; 
of an ovoid form ; greenish, with somewhat of a metallic 
lustre; across the wing-cases are several whitish spots and 
short lines ; the tail is obtuse, hairy, and protrudes beyond 
the wing-cases ; the legs are rather spiny, of a dark color 
and metallic lustre. 

The Indian Cetonia. — {Cetonia Inda.) 

I have observed another beetle very abundant in the 
blooms, and sometimes in the open bolls of the cotton, in 
Florida, in October, which apparently did no injury. This 
beetle is three-fifths of an inch in length, and of a brown 
color, spotted and marbled with a darker brown and black. 
It flies with a loud humming sound, and is apparently 
shiggish in its habits when not on the wing. 

INSECTS FOUND ON ROTTED BOLLS. 

Much has been said about the rotted bolls of cotton, 
the cause of which has been attributed to insects ; and it 
has been alleged that, if these bolls were well examined, 
several of the insects causing the disease would always be 
found inside. It is true, many small insects are found in 
such rotted bolls, but they have invariably been previously 
cracked or split open by disease, or bored into by the boll" 
woi-m. The fact is, the insects found in such places 
frequent them merely for the sake of the sap which exudes 
from the wounds, or for the fungoid growth that generally 
flourishes in such situations. It is very often the case that 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 20Y 

the effect is thus mistaken for the cause, and that insects 
perfectly innocent are blamed for a disease with which they 
have nothing to do, except that they resort to the already 
injured bolls for food or shelter. 

Tlie insects in decaying and rotted bolls of cotton are 
very numerous, but most of them are quite small. 

Another Insect — {Carpopkilus ?) 

Was found in such bolls as were either bored into by 
the boll-worm, or had been split open by the rot, and did 
not appear upon the bolls unless they had been previously 
injured. I have counted as many as thirty of these beetles 
in a single diseased boll, and there is scarcely an injured 
or split boll in some fields in which one or more of them 
is not to be found. They likewise occur in considerable 
numbers in the tops of such ears of maize as have been 
eaten out by the corn-worm [Heliothes), (see Report for 
1854), and have much of the sap exuding, or are covered 
with a fungoid growth. They appear to dislike light, and 
seek shelter in dark places, secure from the rays of the sun. 

This insect is about the tenth of an inch in length, and 
of a brown color ; the wing-cases are short, covering only 
about two-thirds of the abdomen. The larva is a small 
yellow gTub, with six fore-legs and two points at the end 
of the tail, and is often found in the rotted parts of the 
bolls. 

If this insect were to be found in the bolls before they 
were already rotted, or to be seen in the act of piercing 
the outer case, it might, perhaps with reason, be accused 
of causing the disease ; but, as they are never found inside 
before the rot has commenced, it is very much to be 
doubted whether they have any thing to do with it, or 



208 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

merely visit such places for the purpose of obtaining a 
food suitable to tlieir taste, or a dark sheltered place in ac- 
cordance with their habits. 

The Square-necked Stlvanus. — {Sylvanus guadricollis.) 

The larva and perfect insect of this minute beetle has 
already been figured, in the Agricultural Report for 1854, 
where it is described as having been found in Indian corn. 
It also frequents diseased cotton-bolls, most probably for 
the sake of the seed, which is generally exposed to its 
attacks, when the boll has been split open by disease. 

Another Insect 

Was also found very numerous in some of the rotted 
bolls ; but as soon as the latter were taken from the plant 
and opened, the beetles ran off with great rapidity, and 
endeavored to hide themselves under any substance that 
would serve as a place of shelter. They appeared to dis- 
like the open light, and were generally found in dark and 
obscure places. 

There were likewise several small insects found in 
rotted bolls, such as the Colastus semitectus, and many 
others, which it will be unnecessary to enumerate here, as 
their habits are very much the same as those above men- 
tioned, nearly all of them frequenting such places merely 
for food and shelter, and not causing the rot in any 
manner. 

The hemipterous insects, heretofore mentioned, cer- 
tainly do pierce the bolls with their beaks or piercers, for 
the sake of the sap ; for they have been caught in the 
very act, and this even before any appearance of the rot 
could be discovered. They might, therefore, perhaps, with 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 209 

better reason, be suspected of baving sometbing more to 
do witb tbe disease tban the small beetles already men- 
tioned. But, even in tbis case, it would be well to inves- 
tigate furtber before coming to a definite conclusion. 

* The Corn -Worm. — {Heliothes?) 

Tbe caterpillar producing tbis small motb, described in 
tbe Agricultural Report for 1854 as injurious to tbe Indian 
corn in tbe Soutbern States, is likewise found in tbe bolls 
of cotton wbicb bave been split open by tbe rot, but can 
bave notbing to do witb producing tbe disease. It most 
probably feeds upon tbe seeds contained in tbe rotted 
bolls. 

Tbe cbrysalis is formed in a cocoon inside tbe boll ; it 
is about one-fiftb of an incb in lengtb, of a brown color, 
and formed in a cocoon of silk, interwoven witb faeces and 
dust from tbe boll. 

The caterpillar is about three-tenths of an incb in 
lengtb, of a reddish or pink color, witb the bead and part 
of tbe first segment brownish. It has six pectoral, eight 
ventral, and two anal feet, and is able to suspend itself by 
a thread, when disturbed. The body is sbghtly covered 
witb a few short hairs. 

The moths appear in about fourteen days in warm 
weather, and, when expanded, measure nearly two-fifths 
of an incb ; tbe upper-wings are of a shaded chestnut 
brown, mottled witb darker brown and black ; tbe tips of 
the wings are marked witb dark spots ; tbe under-wings 
are very narrow, brown, and deeply fringed witb fine hairs, 
presenting almost tbe appearance of feathers, Tbe insect, 
when at rest, places tbe upper wings together, forming a 
ridge witb tbe extremity turned up. There appear to be 



210 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

several generations of those insects during the season, and, 
although found in rotted bolls, they are perfectly harmless 
as to the causing of disease. 

There are several other insects found in rotted bolls 
which it will be unnecessary here to describe ; for, although, 
as before stated, they are found in bolls already sjjlit open 
by the rot, or eaten into by the worm, yet they are no 
more the cause of the disease than the woodpecker is the 
cause of the death of the tree out of which it extracts the 
insects which have already accomplished its destruction. 

The Boll-Worm. — [Heliothes ? ) 

The egg of the boll-worm moth is generally deposited 
on the outside of the involucel, or outer calyx of the 
flower, and I have taken it from the outer calyx even of 
the young boll itself. It has been stated that the egg is 
laid upon the stem, which also forms the first food of the 
young wonn ; but after a thorough and careful examination 
of several hundred stems, I found only one egg in this 
situation, and that, from its being upon its side instead of 
its base, had evidently been misplaced, and never hatched. 

The egg of the boll -worm is laid singly upon the in- 
volucel about twilight, and is of a somewhat oval shape, 
rather flattened at the top and bottom, and is formed with 
ridges on the side, which meet at the top in one common 
centre. The color is yellowish until nearly hatched, when 
it becomes darker, the young enclosed caterpillar showing 
through the translucent shell. A single boll-worm moth, 
dissected by Dr. John Gamble, of Tallahassee, contained 
at least five hundred eggs, which differed much from those 
of the cotton caterpillar moth, which are round and flat- 
tened like a turnip, of a beautiful green color, and scarcely 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 211 

to be distinguished from tlie leaf on which they are de- 
posited. The eggs of the boll-worm moth hatched in 
three or four days after being brought in from the field, 
and the young worms soon commenced feeding upon the 
parenchyma, or tender fleshy substance of the calyx, on the 
outside, near where the egg was laid. When they had 
gained strengih, they pierced through the outer calyx, 
some through the petals into the enclosed flower-bud, 
while others penetrated the boll itself. Sometimes the 
pistil and stamens are found to be distorted and discolored, 
which is caused by the young worm, when inside the bud, 
eating the stamens and injuring the pistil, so that it is 
drawn over to one side. When this is the case, the young 
worm bores through the bottom of the flower into the 
young boll before the old corolla, pistil, and stamens fall 
off, leaving the young boll, inner calyx, and outer calyx, or 
involucel, still adhering to the footrstalk, with the young 
worm safe in the growing bolh 

The number of buds destroyed by this worm is very 
great, as they fall off when quite young, and are scarcely 
observed as they lie, brown and withering, on the ground. 
The instinct of the caterpillar, however, teaches it to for- 
sake a bud or boll about to fall, and either to seek another 
or to fasten itself to a leaf, on which it remains until the 
skin is shed ; it then attacks another bud or boll in a sim- 
ilar manner, until, at length, it acquires size and strength 
sufficient to enable it to bore into the nearly-matured bolls, 
which ai"e entirely destroyed by its punctures ; for, if the 
interior is not devoured, the rain penetrates the boll, and 
the cotton soon becomes rotten and of no value. 

The rotted bolls sei-ve also for food and shelter to nu- 
merous small insects, such as those ah'eady mentioned, and 
which have been eiToneously accused of causing the rot. 



212 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

Whenever a young boll or bud is seen with the involucre, 
or outer calyx, called by some the " ruffie," spread open, it 
may be safely concluded that it has been attacked by the 
worm, and w^ill soon fall to the ground and perish. The 
older bolls, however, remain on the plant ; and, if many of 
the fallen buds or bolls be closely examined, the greater 
portion of them will be found to have been previously 
pierced by the worm, the few exceptions being caused 
either by the minute punctures of some of the plant-bugs, 
from rain, or other atmospheric influences. Those injured 
by the worm can be distinguished by a small hole on the 
outside where it entered, and which, when cut open, will 
generally be found partially filled with small fragments of 
faeces. 

When very young, the boll-worm is able to suspend 
itself by a thread, if blown or brushed from the boll or 
leaf on which it rested. After changing its skin several 
times, and attaining its full size, the caterpillar descends 
into the ground, where it makes a silky cocoon, interwoven 
with particles of gravel and earth, in which it changes into 
a bright chestnut-brown chrysalis. The wonns, which en- 
tered the ground in September and October, appeared as 
perfect moths about the end of November. 

A boll-worm, which was bred from an egg found upon 
the involucel, or ruffle of the flower-bud, grew to rather 
more than a twentieth of an inch in length by the third 
day, when it shed its skin, having eaten in the mean time 
nothing but the parenchyma, or tender fleshy substance 
from the outside. On the fifth day it bored or pierced 
through the outer calyx, and commenced feeding upon the 
inner ; and, on the sixth day, it again shed its skin, and 
had increased to about the tenth of an inch in length. On 
the tenth day it again shed its skin, ate the interior of the 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 213 

young flower-bud, and had grown much larger. On the 
fourteenth day it, for the fifth time, shed its skin, attacked 
and ate into a young boll, and had increased to thirteen- 
twentieths of an inch in length. From this time it ate 
nothing but the inside of the boll, and on the twentieth 
day the skin was again shed, and it had grown to the 
length of an inch and one-tenth, but unfortunately died 
before completing its final change. 

These moths probably lay their eggs on some other 
plants when the cotton is inaccessible, as a young boll- 
worm was found this season in the corolla of the flower of 
a squash, devouring the pistils and stamens ; and, as there 
is a striking similarity between the boll-worm and the corn- 
worm moth, described in the Agricultural Report for 1854, 
in the appearance, food, and habits, alike in the caterpillar, 
chiysalis, and perfect state, it will perhaps prove that the 
boll- worm may be the young of the corn-worm moth, and 
that the eggs are deposited on the young boll, as the 
nearest substitute for green com, and placed upon them 
only when the corn has become too old and hard for their 
food. 

Colonel B. A. Sorsby, of Columbus, Georgia, has bred 
both these insects, and declares them to be the same ; and, 
moreover, when, according to his advice, the corn was care- 
fully wormed on two or three plantations, the boll-worms 
did not make their appearance that season on the cotton, 
notwithstanding that, on neighboring plantations, they 
committed great ravages. 

The worms, or caterpillars, have six pectoral, eight ven- 
tral, and two anal feet, and creep along with a gradual mo- 
tion, quite unlike the looping gait of the true cotton cater- 
pillar, and vary much in color and markings, some being 
brown, while others are almost greea All are more or less 



214 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

spotted with black, and slightly covered with short hairs. 
These variations of color may perhaps be caused by the 
food of the caterpillar. Some planters assert that, in the 
earlier part of the season, the green worms are found in the 
greatest number, while the dark brown are seen later in 
the fall, as we know is the case with the cotton catei^pillar. 

The upper-wings of the moth are yellowish, in some 
specimens having a shade of green, but in others of red. 
There is an irregular dark band running across the wing, 
about an eighth of an inch from the margin, and a cres- 
cent-shaped dark spot near the centre ; several dark spots, 
each enclosing a white mark, are also discovered on the 
margin ; the under-wings are lighter colored, with a broad, 
black border on the margin, and are also veined distinctly 
with the same color. In the black border, however, there 
is a brownish-yellow spot, of the same color as the rest of 
the under-wings, which is more distinct in some specimens 
than in others, but may always be plainly perceived ; there 
is also, in most specimens, a black mark or line in the 
middle of the under-wings, on the nervure; but, in some, 
it is very indistinct. 

These moths multiply very rapidly ; for, as I have be- 
fore observed, one female moth sometimes contains five 
hundred eggs, which, if hatched in safety, would rapidly 
infest a whole field, three generations being produced in 
the course of a year. 

In an interesting communication fi'om Colonel Benja- 
min F. Whitner, of Tallahassee, he states that the boll- 
worm was scarcely known in his neighborhood before the 
year 1841 ; and yet, in the short period of fourteen years, 
it had increased to such a degree as to have become one 
of the greatest enemies to the cotton on several plantations 
in that vicinity. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 215 

It has been recommended to liglit tires in various parts 
of the plantations, at the season when the first moths of 
this insect make their appearance, as they are attracted by 
light, and perish in groat numbers in the flames ; and, if 
the first brood of females be thus destroyed, their numbers 
must necessarily be reduced, as it is highly probable that 
it is the second and third generations which do the prin- 
cipal damage to the crops. Some successful experiments 
in killing these moths with molasses and vinegar were 
made by Captain Sorsby, a year or two ago, which I here 
describe in his own words : 

" We procured eighteen common-sized dinner-plates, 
into each of which we put about half a gill of vinegar and 
molasses, previously prepared in the proportion of four 
parts of the former to one of the latter. These plates were 
set on small stakes, or poles, driven into the ground in the 
cotton fields, one to about each three acres, and reaching a 
little above the cotton plant, with a six-inch-square board 
tacked on the top, to receive the plate. These arrange- 
ments were made in the evening, soon after the flies had 
made their appearance. The next morning we found from 
eighteen to thirty-five moths to each plate. The experi- 
ment was continued for five or six days, distributing the 
plates over the entire field, each day's success decreasing 
until the number was reduced to two or three to each 
plate, when it was abandoned, as being no longer worthy 
of the trouble. The crop that year was but very little in- 
jured by the boll-worm. The flies were caught in their 
eagerness to feed upon the mixture, by alighting into it, 
and being unable to make their escape. They were doubt- 
less attracted by the odor of the preparation, the vinegar 
probably being an important agent in the matter. As flies 
feed only at night, the plates should be visited late every 



216 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

evening, the insects taken out, and the vessels replenished, 
as circumstances may require. I have tried the experiment 
with results equally satisfactory, and shall continue it until 
a better one is adopted." It might be well also to try the 
lantern-trap before mentioned, as another means of destruc- 
tion, and likewise the method of poisoning recommended 
in the general remarks on insects. As it appears from 
Colonel Sorsby's communication that the moth is attracted 
by, and feeds with avidity upon molasses and vinegar, could 
not some tasteless and eflfective poison be mixed with this 
liquid, so that all the early moths which might partake of 
it would be destroyed before laying their eggs ? 

A long caterpillar, measuring from an inch and three- 
fifths to an inch and nine-tenths in length, and with a thick 
body, is sometimes found in bolls of cotton in similar situ- 
ations as the boll-worm. It feeds likewise upon the leaf, 
and some specimens, which were confined in a box, de- 
voured green corn from the ear. These insects vary much 
in color, some being of a beautiful velvet black, while 
others are considerably lighter. Tlie head of the cater- 
pillar appears small for the bulky size of the body, and is 
black, with two stripes of yellow, forming an angle on the 
front. On each side of the back runs a longitudinal line, 
and below the spiracles is seen another line of a reddish 
or ruddy color. The under part is of a light brown. It 
has six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal legs, and its 
mode of progression is by a gradual creeping, the same as 
the boll-worm. 

The chrysalides were formed under ground, in cocoons 
of earth, agglutinated with silk, and were about four-fifths 
of an inch in length, and of a brownish color. 

The moth measured an inch and three-tenths across the 
expanded wings ; the upper pair were of a brownish color, 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 217 

marked on the margin with an irregular band of dirty 
cream-color, marked with black spots on the extreme outer 
edge. In the centre of each wing was an oblique line of 
the same color ; the body was brown ; the under-wings of 
a dirty, yellowish white, with a dark shade near where they 
touch the upper-wings ; the antennae were threadlike. 

The eggs producing these worms were found deposited 
in clusters in September, and not singly, like those of the 
boll-worm. The old caterpillars are subject to a disease 
which often proves fatal ; and hence it is difficult to raise 
them in confinement. When attacked, they appear to 
bloat or swell very much, become full of a watery pulp, 
suddenly cease to feed, and soon perish, when the outer 
skin turns black, and the inside is found to be full of a 
liquid, putrid matter. Perhaps, if they were not subject to 
this disease, these caterpillars might do as much damage 
to the cotton as the boll-worm ; but, being generally not 
very numerous, they cannot do much injury. 

The same remedies will do for these worms, or cater- 
pillars, that have been recommended for the boll-worm. 

The Striped Pale-Green Caterpillar. 

There was another caterpillar found feeding upon the 
leaves of the cotton plant, near Columbus, in Georgia,, 
which sometimes buried itself in the bolls, in the same 
manner as the boll-worm. It was about an inch and a 
half in length, of a pale-green color, with wavy, longitudinal 
stripes of a lighter color on the back, and with a longitu- 
dinal black line running down each side, thicker and darker 
on the fore part of the head. Under this was a broader 
line, nearly white, tinged with light red or reddish brown. 
On each side of every segment was a small black spot. It 
had six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal feet. 
10 



218 " DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

Most of these caterpillars were found about the 20th 
of October, but, unfortunately, died before completing 
their final change. They were not numerous on the plan- 
tations, and therefore could do but little damage. 

The Red Bug, or Cotton-Stainer, — [Lygwus?) 

This destructive insect is found by millions in East 
Florida, on the cotton plantations, where it does immense 
damage by staining the fibre of the cotton in the bolls, 
and rendering it unfit for use where pure white fabrics 
are required. Some specimens were found near Jackson- 
ville, in October, on the open bolls, under the dried calyx, 
and congregating together on the dead leaves under the 
plants, or on rotten logs or decaj^ed wood. Several of the 
open bolls were actually red with these insects, exhibiting 
every stage of growth, fi-om the larva to the perfect bug, 
all clustered together in such masses as almost to hide the 
white of the cotton itself The beak, or rostrum, is four- 
jointed, with the end blackish, and when not in use, is re- 
curved under the thorax, which is somewhat triangular in 
shape, with the anterior part red ; a narrow, distinct band 
of whitish yellow divides the thorax from the head ; the 
posterior part is black, edged between the thorax and wing- 
cases with whitish yellow ; the scutellum is triangular, red, 
and edged with a distinct line of whitish yellow on each 
side, and partly down the centre of the wing-case ; the 
elytrae, or wing-cases, are flat, brownish black, and contain- 
ing two distinct X-shaped whitish-yellow lines on them, 
intersecting each other near the centre ; the wing-cases are 
also edged with a distinct yellowish line, as far as the X, 
The body is flattened, and in the female projects on each 
side beyond the wing-cases, showing the bright red of the 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 219 

abdomen, and contrasting witli the dark color of tlie wing- 
cases. The under-wings are bidden under tbe upper wing- 
cases, and are transparent, veined, and of a yellowish color, 
clouded with black. The thighs of the fore-legs are some- 
what spiny near the tibiae, and of a red color. The tibiae 
and tarsi are black ; the under part of the body is bright 
red, with rings of yellowish white running around it, on 
the edge of each segment. 

The female produces about one hundred eggs; the 
young lai-va is completely red, almost scarlet, with distinct 
whitish-yellow bands ai-ound the body, on the edge of 
each segment. The thigiis are red, with the tibiae, tarsi, 
and antennae blackish. 

The pupa differs only in size, and in having the un- 
formed wing-cases very small and black, contrasting strongly 
with the vivid red of the body. 

The perfect male is about three-fifths of an inch in 
length, and the female about seven-tenths of an inch, from 
the head to the end of the abdomen. They are similar in 
shape and color, differing only in size. The head and eyes 
are red, the antennae black, with four long joints. 

The following communication on the subject of this 
insect was received from Mr. B. Hopkins, of Jacksonville, 
a practical sea-island planter, of nearly thirty years' ex- 
perience : 

" The ' red bugs,' or, as they are sometimes properly 
denominated, the ' cotton-stainers,' generally make their 
appearance about August, or late in July, which is near the 
usual season for cotton to begin to open. They can read- 
ily be distinguished from other bugs, hannless in their na- 
ture, by their being of a red color, and more sluggish in 
their movements. The nearer the fruit advances toward 
maturity, the more injury they do to the cotton. The 



220 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

\ 

pod, or boll, is perforated by this bug. Whether the 
staining matter is imparted to the fibre of the cotton during 
the perforation directly, or by a slow process diffusing it- 
self with the sap abounding at that time in the pod, is not 
yet ascertained. I am of the latter opinion, from the fact 
that almost the entire product of the boll is discolored 
when it opens, which does not seem at all to cause a pre- 
mature development. As winter approaches, they grad- 
ually retire, and take refuge among the logs, or buiTOw 
into the soil at the root of the cotton plant, where they 
hybernate. After a wet season, in winter, they may be 
found in hundreds on the sunny side of the stalks, enjoy- 
ing the genial atmosphere, until toward evening, when they 
again retire. They can be kept down very easily, when 
there are not more than five acres planted to the hand. 

" I have been in the habit of offering a reward every 
night to the negro that brings in the greatest quantity, 
each of whom is furnished with a pint bottle, suspended 
across the shoulders, into which, as they pass along pick- 
ing the cotton, they deposit all they can discover. In 
many instances I have seen the bottle filled by one negro 
in a day. They may also be greatly reduced by destroy- 
ing them when they come out in winter, in their half-torpid 
state ; a torch of fire in that case is best. They may be 
buried a foot mider ground, and most of them will still 
escape from their inhumation. If there should be stumps 
or trees in the fields, they should be burned, and that will 
generally reduce the quantity for a year or more. In fact, 
when they receive timely and proper attention, they need 
not be dreaded. 

" No process that I know of can extract the stain pro- 
duced in the bolls ; it is indelible, and considerably re- 
duces the price of the cotton in the market. These insects 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 221 

have been mucli on tlie increase for the last ten years, which 
I attribute to the excess in planting, as well as the want of 
proper efforts for their destruction." 

It has been stated by other planters, that the faeces of 
the insect produce the reddish or greenish stain, and that 
the red-bugs will collect where there are splinters or frag- 
ments of sugar-cane. Advantage has already been taken 
of this habit to collect them by means of small chips of 
sugar-cane, when they may be destroyed by boiling water ; 
and as they also collect around piles of cotton-seed, they 
may thus be easily decoyed, and then killed, either by fire 
or hot water, when congregated. All stumps and dead 
trees standing in the field should be well burnt out. The 
experiment of destroying them by means of the crushed 
sugar-cane and poison has been tried ; but, as no report of 
the experiment has been received, it remains doubtful 
whether it can be recommended or not. 



INSECTS FOUND IN THE COTTON FIELDS— NOT INJURIOUS 
TO THE CROP. 

[Zanthidia niceppe.) 

There are many other insects found in cotton fields, 
which are perfectly harmless to the plant, although the 
larvae of many of them subsist upon the weeds which grow 
between the rows or around the edges of the plantation. 

Among these insects we find buttei-fiies, in general, one 
species of which is frequently seen hanging over the 
ground by hundreds, around moist and damp places. The 
caterpillar of this fly is of a deep-gi-een, velvety appearance, 
with a yellowish longitudinal line nmning down each side. 
It was found upon the Cassia Marylandica, and measured 
an inch and one-fifth in leng-th. The chrysalis is greenish, 



222 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

with a very pointed bead, and fastened to the branch or 
leaf by the tail, and by a thread fastened at each side and 
passed over its back. 

This butterfly is about an inch and four-fifths across the 
expanded wings, which are of an orange color, with a broad, 
black border around the edges. 

The Argynnis Columbina. 

The caterpillar of another butterfly is often found on 
cotton plants, where it has wandered from its natural food, 
which consists of the wild passion-flower, so often found 
growing as a weed amongst the crops. It is about an inch 
and two-fifths in length, of a bright-chestnut color, with two 
longitudinal black stripes along the sides, and a broken line 
of yellowish white inside of each black stripe ; it has two 
long, projecting, black horns, or protuberances, on the first 
segment of the body. When about to change, it selects a 
place imder a leaf, branch, or fence, where it spins a small 
spot of silk, to which it suspends itself by its hind-legs ; the 
skin of the fore part of the body then splits open, and the 
chrysalis makes its appearance, also hanging suspended by 
means of several small hooks, with which the end of the 
tail is furnished, and which, during the disengagement of 
the skin, becomes entangled in the silk. 

The chrysalis is about seven-tenths of an inch in length, 
of a pale, whitish green, containing black marks and 
brilliant metallic, golden spots. These chrysalides, how- 
ever, together with those of the great American frittellary 
butterfly, are often destroyed by the larvae of a small fly. 

The butterfly makes its appearance in summer in a few 
days, and measures from two inches and a half to three 
inches across the expanded wings. It is of a bright 
chestnut-brown, barred and spotted with black. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 223 

Great American Frittellary. — [Acfraulis vanillce.) 

The caterpillar of this butterfly is of a light chestnut- 
brown color, with a dark, longitudinal stripe down each 
side, and is shaded with black below the spiracles. It 
measures about an inch and a half in length, and is covered 
with sharp, thorny spines ; two spines are also found upon 
the top of its somewhat square-shaped head. 

The chrysalis, which is shaded with brown and drab, is 
about an inch and a tenth in length, and hangs suspended 
by the tail fi-om trees, shrubs, and fences. 

The butterfly measures from two inches and three- 
fourths to three inches and a fourth across the wings ; the 
upper sides of which are of a bright rich chestnut-brown, 
spotted and marked on the veins with black. The under- 
side is beautifully marked with large, metallic, silver spots. 

Ants. 

Whenever the plants are infested with cotton-lice 
{Aphides), myriads of small ants may be seen running 
hurriedly up and down the stems and leaves, or leisurely 
moving amongst the lice, quietly tapping first one and then 
another with their antennae, or feelers, and occasionally 
making a dead halt where they find a sufficiency of this 
insect food. Many planters suppose that these ants arc 
the parents of the lice ; others again suspect them of 
destroying the aphis ; neither of which, however, is the 
case, as the ants merely visit the colonies of lice to devour 
the sweet, gummy substance that exudes from the tubercles 
on the bodies of the aphides, and which is commonly 
called " honey-dew," from the erroneous impression that it 
is formed in the atmosphere, and then deposited in the 
form of dew xipon the upper surface of leaves. This honey- 



224 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

dew, however, is a sweet liquid, ejected from the anal 
tubercles of the cotton-louse, and elaborated in its own 
body, from the sap which had previously been extracted 
from leaves or young shoots, and which, if riot immediately 
devoured by the ants, is ejected by the plant-louse, and 
falls in drops upon the upper portions of the leaves that 
are beneath, making them appear as if varnished, or, if old, 
causing the places thus defiled to be black and rusty, as if 
affected with a black mildew, or rust. 

The ants feed voraciously upon this honey-dew, when 
fresh, and cause the aphides to eject the substance at will, 
by merely tapping their abdomens with their antennae ; the 
drop ejected is immediately devoured by the ants, and 
other aphides are visited and subjected to the same treat- 
ment, until the appetites of the ants are satisfied, when 
they either loiter about the leaves or descend to their nests 
in the ground. Ants are of utility in devouring any weak 
or disabled insects they may encounter in their path, or in 
consuming any animal substances which might otherwise 
contaminate the air. 

Ants are generally divided into "males," "females," 
and " neuters." The males and females, at one stage of 
their growth, are furnished with wings, which the female 
gnaws or casts off when about to form a colony, Tlie 
neuters afterward fonn the general mass. There are 
several varieties of the ant found in the cotton fields, of 
very different habits and appearance. The most numerous 
make a hole in the earth, and form a sort of hillock around 
it, of the grains of earth or sand brought up from below 
the surface of the ground, and from this nest they make 
excursions in every direction in search of food. 

There is also another species — " red ants," so called, 
but in reality belonging to the family Mutillidce. They are 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 225 

found singly upon the ground in plantations, and some- 
times measure half an inch in length. Their color is a 
vivid, velvety red and black. They are able to inflict pain- 
ful and severe wounds with a long sting with which they 
are provided. There are also three or four species of small 
ants, exceedingly troublesome in some of the Southern 
houses, where they find their way into pantries, closets, 
boxes, or trunks, however closed, and devour any eatable 
article which may fall in their way. The only means of 
preventing the ravages of these insects is to isolate the 
aiticle to be preserved in a vessel of water, or to put all 
four of the legs of the table, on which the articles may be 
placed, into vessels filled with water. 

The smaller ants, however, have a formidable enemy, 
the ant-lion, which, in the larva state, forms a funnel-shaped 
hole in the sand, near the ants' nests, in the bottom of 
which it lies concealed, all except its jaws, and waits with 
patience in this den for any ant that may chance to pass 
along the treacherous path. The ant, suspecting no harm, 
reaches the edge of the pit-fall, and, the loose sand giving 
way, it is precipitated to the bottom, where the larva of the 
ant-lion immediately seizes it with its jaws, and, after suck- 
ing out its juice, casts the empty skin away. Should the 
unfortunate ant, however, elude the first assault of the ant- 
Hon, and endeavor to escape by climbing up the steep sides 
of the funnel-shaped hole, the ant-lion throws repeated 
showers of sand with such precision upon the unfortunate 
victim that it veiy seldom fails to overwhelm and bring it 
within reach of its jaws, when it is seized and its juices 
extracted as above described. 

The perfect insect of the ant-lion much resembles the 
dragon-fly in form and general appearance ; it is also 
furnished with four veined wings, by means of which it is 
10* 



226 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

enabled to transport itself from place to place. The 
antennae, however, are much longer, and the larvae of the 
dragon-fly are decidedly aquatic, instead of living upon the 
land, like those of the ant-lion. 

INSECTS BENEFICIAL TO COTTON. 
Spiders. 

Spiders, in cotton or grain fields, are decidedly bene- 
ficial, inasmuch as they wage perpetual war against other 
insects, and are incessantly on the watch to catch and 
destroy all which, in their erratic flights, happen to be- 
come entangled in their webs. 

One spider makes a very singular nest for her young, 
of fine silk, webbed up and closely woven together in the 
shape of a basket with a round bottom, and most generally 
placed on or near the top of the cotton plant Tliis basket 
is furnished with a cover fitting closely to the top, and is 
filled with egg's. When the young spiders are hatched, 
they creep from under this cover, and eventually disperse 
over the web, which is comparatively large and strong, and 
stretched from plant to plant. The old female spider 
appears to brood over this nest, displaying much maternal 
solicitude for the safety of her infant progeny ; for, if forced 
away, she immediately returns, and will sufter herself al- 
most to be torn limb from limb, rather than desert her 
precious charge. 

The habits of the diflferent species of spiders are very 
dissimilar; for, while some are almost entirely stationary 
all their life-time, others are continually moving about, 
roaming fi'om leaf to leaf, and living entirely by hunting. 
Many spin their nets from plant to plant, to entrap unwary 
insects, and generally stay quietly at home in comfortable 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 227 

webs securely sheltered from the sun and rain, under or 
between the leaves, waiting patiently for every stray moth 
that is so unfortunate as to fly into their nets. With the 
fore-feet carefully placed on a line leading to the radiating 
net-work, in order to feel the tremulous motion imparted 
to it by the unavailing efforts of any captive insect to 
escape, the spider remains perfectly motionless until some 
straggling fly happens to become entangled, when it im- 
mediately rushes down the central line, and, after tying 
the limbs of its unfortunate victim with a loose web of silk, 
in order to arrest its struggles for life, deliberately gives it 
the death-wound, drags the carcass to its den, and devours 
it at leisure. Other spiders hunt for and capture their 
insect prey in a manner similar to that practised by the cat. 
One of them at first approaches an unconscious victim so 
gently as not to awaken its suspicion, at the same time 
taking advantage of every inequality of stem or leaf, in 
order to conceal itself, until within springijig distance, and 
then jumping suddenly upon its back, killing it with its 
powerful hooked fang-s. It then sucks out the whole of its 
juices, leaving only the empty skin, to be blown away by 
the wind. 

Another description of a small spider, about the tenth 
of an inch in length, of a light-drab color, with two or 
more dark spots on its back, was found very numerous 
inside of the involucre, or ruffle, of the cotton bloom, bud, 
and boll, where it is said to be useful to the planter in 
destroying very young boll-worms. In many cases, where 
the eggs of the boll-worm moth had been deposited and 
hatched out, and the young worms had eaten through the 
outer calyx, and already partially pierced a hole in the 
young bud, or boll, it was fi-equently observed that no 
wonn could be discovered inside ; but upon opening such 



228 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

a ruffle, this small spider was almost invariably found 
snugly ensconced in its web ; hence it was surmised that 
the young worm had entered between the ruffle and the 
boll, or bud, and had been destroyed by the spider, the 
nest of which was found in such situations. 

As all spiders are in the habit of destroying small, 
noxious insects, they may be regarded as beneficial, espe- 
cially when the crops are preyed upon by the larvae of very 
small flies, such as the wheat midge, the Hessian fly, and 
many others. These insects, being constantly on the wing, 
flying about from plant to plant, to deposit their eggs, are 
very apt to become entangled in the webs, and to be there 
destroyed. 

The spider itself, however, has enemies, one of which 
is the " mud-wasp," so called. Tliis insect builds cells of 
clay in out-houses, and under beams, or in other sheltered 
places. Their nests resemble small pieces of mud thrown 
up against a roof or wall, whenwet, and afterward dried by 
exposure to the air. 

The Carolina Tiger-Beetle. — [Megacephela Carolina.) 

This beetle belongs to the family Cicindelado!, other- 
wise called " tiger-beetles," from their savage propensities, 
and the beautiful spots and stripes with which their metal- 
lic wing-cases are adorned. These beetles are always 
hunting about the ground in search of insect food. A 
smaller and darker species especially delights in the glare 
and heat of the mid-day sun ; and, when disturbed, flies 
only a short distance, alighting with its head directed tow- 
ard the object which has excited its alarm. 

The larvae of the tiger-beetle inhabit cylindrical holes 
in the earth, and, in these burrows, they wait patiently for 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 229 

any passing insect that may be crawling about on tbe 
ground, which, when within reach, is seized, dragged to 
the bottom of its subterranean den, and there devoured at 
leisure. They are of a dirty yellowish white, and are 
furnished with two hooks on the back. In the Southern 
States, they are often taken by the boys, by means of a 
piece of grass or straw, which being inserted into their 
dens, is seized by the insect in its crooked jaws, and held 
with such tenacity that it will not let go until, by means 
of a sudden jerk, it is brought to the surface of the ground 
and secured. 

The Carolina tiger-beetle is about seven-tenths of an 
inch in length, of a most beautiful metallic blue, violet, and 
gi'een ; and, when placed in certain positions, it assumes 
the lustre of bronze or gold. It may also be known by a 
yellowish curved spot on the extremity of each wing-case. 
It appears not to be so partial to the light of the sun as 
some other species, but often conceals itself under stones. 
It is also seen much more frequently in the cotton fields 
during cloudy weather, or toward evening, than in a fervid 
mid-day sun. 

The Predatory Beetle — [Harpalus ?) 

A beetle belonging to the genus Harpalus, is very 
beneficial to the cotton planter, inasmuch as its food con- 
sists principally of other insects, and of dead putrescent sub- 
stances. Numbers of them may be seen running about the 
surface of the ground in search of food, and when disturb- 
ed, hide themselves under grass, roots, or stones. The 
formation of their jaws is peculiarly adapted to a predatory 
life. As they are very strong, and hooked at the extremity, 
they are enabled to seize and hold fast any soft-bodied in- 
sect, which they generally kill and devour. 



230 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

It should here be mentioned, however, that the larvae 
of an insect of this species have been accused in Europe of 
feeding upon the pith and steras of grasses and succulent 
roots, but at the same time it is stated to feed also upon 
the larvse of other insects. 

Another very similar insect [Zabrus gihhus), both in 
the larva and pupa state, is said to be injurious to wheat in 
Europe ; and although the two last mentioned may be 
injurious to vegetation, yet, as a general rule, the Carabidce 
are carnivorous, and destroy multitudes of insects m the 
larva, pupa, and perfect state. 

The Devil's Coach-Horse. — [Reduvius novenarius.) 

This insect abounds in the city of Washington, during 
the summer and autumnal months, and is very useful in 
destroying the disgusting caterpillars which swarm on the 
shade-trees. The eggs are deposited in autumn upon 
branches, and are hatched in May or June. When young, 
the insects have abdomens of a bright-red color, with some 
dark or black spots on their backs. The head and thorax 
are black. When they shed their skins, they are grayish 
in color, and display only the rudiments of wings. It is 
only in the last stage that they acquire perfect wings, when 
they are capable of flying with great vigor. 

The perfect insect measures about an inch and a quarter 
in length. It destroys multitudes of noxious insects, in 
every stage of their growth, and is therefore highl;^ bene- 
ficial ; but, at the same time, it is dangerous to man, if 
handled incautiously, as the punctures made by its piercer 
are often followed by severe consequences. When about 
to attack another insect, it advances toward its prey with a 
most cautious and stealthy gait, lifting up and putting 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 231 

down its feet apparently in tlie same careful manner as a 
pointer when approacliing liis game. When near enough 
to make the fatal dart, it plunges its piercer into the 
unfortunate caterpillar, and deliberately sucks out its 
juices. A small specimen experimented with, was placed 
in a box with ten caterpillars, all of which it destroyed in 
the space of five hours. 

The Ichneumon Fly. — (Ichneumon?) 

An ichneumon fly was found in the cotton fields near 
Columbus, in Georgia, busily employed in search of some 
caterpillar in the body of which to deposit its eggs, as is 
generally the habit of this class of flies. The eggs being 
hatched within the caterpillar, the larvae devour the fatty 
substance, carefully avoiding all the vital parts, until they 
are fully grown, when the caterpillar, having in the mean 
time changed into a chrysalis, with the devouring larvae in 
its interior, the life of its unresisting victim is destroyed, 
and the grubs change into pupae, and eventually emerge 
fi"om the chrysalis skin perfect ichneumon flies, to deposit 
their eggs in other caterpillars. 

These insects are generally seen running about plants 
infested with caterpillars or worms, continually jerking 
their wings, and anxiously searchmg in every cranny and 
crevice in quest of a subject, in which to form the nest 
and provide food for their young. 

The circumstance of this fly's coming from the skin or 
ease of the moth, or buttei-fly, is the cause of the mistakes 
so often made by persons not well versed in natural his- 
tory ; for, when a caterpillar is confined in a glass, and 
after the change to a chrysalis has taken place, when the 
real moth is expected to come out, and this fly makes its 



232 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

appearance, the young naturalist concludes, of course, tLat 
the fly is produced by the caterpillar ; whereas the rightful 
tenant of the chrysalis-case had been previously displaced 
and devoured by the larva of the ichneumon fly, which 
was produced from an eg^ placed by the parent fly in the 
body of the caterpillar. This fact is here noticed in con- 
sequence of some drawings of insects injurious to cotton 
having been sent to the Patent OiBce, among which an 
ichneumon fly was figured as proceeding from the chrysalis 
of a caterpillar. This was correct, inasmuch as it was the 
parasite which had devoured the chrysalis, but not true 
when intended to represent the perfect insect as naturally 
proceeding from the caterpillar itself 

Some chrysalides of tlie cotton caterpillar, which had 
been preserved during the autumn of 1855, as an experi- 
ment to try whether they would live until the following 
spring, having been hatched out prematurely by the heat 
of the room in which they were kept, two ichneumon flies 
were produced of a slender shape, and about half an inch 
in length ; the abdomen or body of the female was black, 
and marked with seven light-colored, yellowish, nan*ow 
rings around it ; the head was black, with the eyes brown, 
the antennae long, jointed, and nearly black ; on the head 
were three ocelli ; the thorax was black ; the wings trans- 
parent, of a rather yellowish tinge, veined with black, and 
having a distinct black mark on the outer margin of the 
upper pair ; the first joint of the hind-leg was compar- 
atively large, thick, and of a brownish color ; the thighs 
were also brown ; the tibiae black, with a broad white band 
in the middle ; the tarsi were white, tipped with black ; 
and the ovipositor protruded more than the tenth of an 
inch. The male presented much the same appearance as 
the female, but was more slender in form. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 233 

The Smaller Ichneumon Fly. — [Ichneumon ? ) 

The ichneumon fly which destroys the aphis, or louse, 
so very injurious to the cotton plant, is a minute insect, 
not quite the twentieth of an inch in length. The head 
and thorax are black, and the legs and abdomen of a yel- 
lowish color. Although so extremely small as to be un- 
observed, it is constantly engaged in exterminating the 
cotton lice, myriads of which it destroys by preying upon 
their vitals. The female fly lays a single egg in the body 
of each louse, which, when hatched, becomes a grub. This 
grub devours the interior substance of the aphis, leaving 
only the gray and bloated skin clinging to the leaf. This 
skin serves the young larva for a shelter, where it remains 
until it changes into the perfect fly, when it emerges from 
a hole gnawed through the back, and issues forth furnished 
with four transparent wings, to recommence the beneficial 
labor of depositing more eggs in the surrounding colonies 
of lice on the neighboring plants. 

The number of lice destroyed in this way can be more 
fully appreciated by observing the multitude of empty gray 
and bloated skins, more or less scattered over the cotton 
plants infested, each skin having a hole in the back through 
which the perfect fly has escaped. 

The Syrphus. 

The larvae of this syrphus are found wherever aphides, 
or plant-lice abound, and present the appearance of small, 
yellowish-white, naked maggots, or grubs, of about a fifth 
of an inch in length. Their color is brown, with six dis- 
tinct yellow spots on the first three segments of the body, 
and the sides are also marked on the margin with yellow ; 



234 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

the body is somewhat hairy. The head is armed with 
powerful jaws, and gradually tapers to a point, while the 
tail terminates abruptly as if cut off. 

The parent fly deposits her eggs amongst the lice, in 
order to insure an adequate supply of food to each grub. 
These eggs are soon hatched by the heat of the sun, and 
the young grub immediately commences crawling about 
the leaf; and, being blind, incessantly gropes and feels 
around on either side in search of cotton or plant lice, its 
natural food, one of which, being found by the touch, is 
instantly seized, elevated above the surface of the leaf on 
which it is quietly feeding, in order to prevent the strug- 
gling victim from using its feet, or clinging to the leaf when 
endeavoring to escape from its voracious destroyer. After 
piercing the living insect the grub leisurely sucks out the 
juices, throws away the empty skin, and recommences feel- 
ing about in search of another, which, when found, is 
treated in the same way. When ready to change, the 
syrphus maggot fastens itself to a leaf or stalk, by means 
of a glutinous secretion from its own body, and the outer 
skin contracting into a pear-shaped case, soon hardens by 
exposure to the air, and the pupa is formed inside. 

After a few days, during the heat of summer, the per- 
fect fly emerges from a hole, at the blunt end of the case, 
to lay eggs amongst the colonies of lice on the neighboring 
plants. The perfect fly is about seven-tenths of an inch 
across the wings, which are two in number, and transparent. 
The body is generally more or less banded with brown, 
or black and yellow, and appears like that of a diminutive 
wasp. This fly has a peculiar habit of hovering on the 
wing, apparently without motion or exertion, during the 
heat of the day, near or over flowers, and when disturbed 
it darts away with great swiftness ; but, if the object that 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 235 

alarmed it is removed, it immediately resumes the same 
attitude and spot, only darting off every now and then to 
chase some other intruding fly from its own peculiar do- 
main, over which it appears to imagine it possesses abso- 
lute sway. 

These insects are of essential aid to the farmers and 
planters, as their larvae materially diminish the numbers of 
Hce which infest vegetation. 

The Ladt-Bikd. — ( Coccinella ?) 

The lady-bird is a most valuable auxiliary to the cot- 
ton planter, as it destroys the cotton louse, or aphis, by 
thousands, and is most plentiful where they abound, always 
being busy at the work of destroying them ; and, as such, 
I consider it one of the most beneficial of insects to the 
planter. 

The larva is a small, bluish black, alligator-looking in- 
sect, of about the fourth of an inch in length, spotted with 
a few orange marks on the sides and backs. Whenever 
one of them is seen among a colony of the aphides, the 
planter may safely calculate that in a few days the number 
of the lice will be greatly diminished. The larva, when 
hungry, seizes an aphis, and immediately commences eating 
him alive. Tliis savory repast being finished, it eagerly 
hunts about until it has secured another victim, and thus 
completely destroys all the others upon the leaf. When 
about to change into the pupa, it fastens itself by the tail 
to a leaf; the skin of the back splitting open, a small 
hump-backed, black and orange colored pupa makes its ap- 
pearance, which, although furnished with the rudiments 
of wings and legs, is incapable of locomotion or feeding, 
but remains adhering to the leaf, with the dried-up skin of 



236 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

the larva still sticking to the end of the pupa. After re- 
maining in this state for a few days, this skin again splits, 
and the perfect lady-bird emerges, furnished at first with 
soft wings, but which afterward harden, and serve to trans- 
port it to the distant colonies of cotton lice, in the midst 
of which the eggs are again deposited, to form new broods 
for the destruction of the planters' gi-eatest pest. The per- 
fect lady-bird also devours aphides, but not in such num- 
bers as their larvse, in which state it also destroys the 
chrysalis of the butterfly {^Argynnis columbina), seen so 
often in the cotton fields. I have repeatedly observed them 
in Georgia, kiUing the chrysalides of this butterfly, which 
hung suspended from the fence-rails, and on the under side 
of the boughs of trees and shrubs. It appears to attack the 
chrysalis chiefly when soft, and just emerged from the 
caterpillar skin. It is in this state that these wandering 
larvae attack it, and biting a hole in the skin, feed greedily 
upon the green juice which exudes from the wound. 
Sometimes, however, it becomes a victim to its own rapa- 
city ; for the juice of the chrysalis, drying up by the heat 
of the sun, quickly forms an adhesive substance, in which 
the larva is caught, and thus detained until it perishes. 
Indeed, so very voracious are these larvae, that they will 
even devour the defenceless pupae of their own species, 
when found adhering to fences or walls. 

Many planters imagine that these lady-birds are in 
some mysterious manner connected with the appearance of 
the cotton louse, or even that they are the progenitors of 
the aphis itself. This erroneous impression is formed in 
consequence of these insects being always found in similar 
situations at the same time, and abounding on plants al- 
ready weakened by the attacks of the cotton louse. Their 
sudden disappearance is also accounted for, as, with the 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 237 

decrease of their natural food, the lady-birds also disappear 
and migi-ate to neighboring plantations in search of a fresh 
supply of nutriment. I have actually known several 
planters who have caused them to be destroyed by their 
field hands, when and wherever found, and who complained 
that their plants were still destroyed by the aphis, or cot- 
ton louse. This was only to be expected, as they had de- 
stroyed the natural enemy of the louse, and sufiFered the 
pests themselves to breed in peace and safety. I have seen 
the larvae of the lady-bird as late as the 1 8th of November, 
in Georgia, still busy exterminating the aphis. The yellow, 
oleaginous fluid, which is emitted by this insect when han- 
dled, has a powerful and disagreeable odor, and is men- 
tioned by Westwood, iu his " Modern Classification of In- 
sects," as having been recommended as a specific for the 
toothache. 

It may be remarked, however, that there is a much 
larger species of this insect which does considerable dam- 
age to the leaves of cucumbers, melons, squashes, etc., as 
both larvae and perfect insects devour the leaves and eat 
holes in them, so as sometimes totally to disfigure and de- 
stroy the plants. 

The perfect insect measures nearly half an inch in 
length, and is of a yellow color, with twelve large and 
small black spots on the wing-cases, and four small black 
spots on the thorax ; it can be very easily distinguished, 
however, from its beneficial congener, both by size and 
color, the useful lady-bird being only about the sixth or the 
seventh of an inch in length, and of a bright-red or almost 
scarlet color, with black spots, while the injurious insect is 
much larger, measuring nearly half an inch in length, and 
being of a light-yellow color, spotted with black. 



238 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

The Lace-vting Fly. — [Hemerobius f) 

The larva of the lace-wing fly is furnished with two 
long and sharp jaws, by means of which it seizes the cot- 
ton louse, and in a few minutes sucks out the juices, leaving 
merely the white, dried skins to show where it once com- 
mits its ravages. The eggs are very singularly placed at 
the end of a thread-like filament, fastened to the under 
side of the leaf, and are generally deposited near a colony 
of lice, in clusters of a dozen or more together, causing 
them to appear to the casual observer like a bunch of fungi. 
The eggs being hatched in the midst of the cotton lice, the 
young larvae commence their work of extermination, seiz- 
ing the younger lice in their jaws, and holding them in the 
air, and in despite of their struggles, sucking out the juices, 
and finally throwing away the empty skins. 

The larvae of this insect are not quite a fifth of an inch 
in length, and are furnished with a sort of apparatus at the 
extremity of their tails, by means of which they are capable 
of adhering to a leaf, even when all their feet are detached, 
thus being guarded against accidental falls during high 
winds that might otherwise destroy them. When ready to 
change, a thread is spun from the tail, and, often forming a 
rough sort of cobweb, the insect spins a semi-transparent, 
ovoid cocoon, from which it emerges as a beautiful, bright- 
green fly, with two brilliant eyes, which sparkle like gold, 
and four transparent wings, of a greenish cast, dehcately 
veined and netted with nerves resembling the most beauti- 
ful lace-work ; and hence the common name. This splen- 
did insect, however, emits a most nauseous and fetid odor 
when held in the hand. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 239 



SECTION n. 

ACCIDENTS AND DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT, TTStTALLT FROM 
OTHEE CAUSES THAN INSECTS. 

Cotton, like many otlier plants, is subject to diseases, 
caused principally by accidents, the defects of the soil in 
which it grows, the depredations of insects, and the effects 
of the weather. Those which are the most fatal may be 
described as follows: 

SORE-SHIN. 

One of the diseases to which the cotton plant is sub- 
ject, commonly known among planters as the " sore-shin," 
is sometimes occasioned by a cai'eless stroke of the hoe, 
scraping the outer bark from the stem while the plant is 
yet young and tender. The sap being arrested by the 
wound, that part of the main stem above the injury dwin- 
dles away, becoming both weak and brittle. Although the 
regenerative powers of the plant may afterward produce 
new bark from the sides of the wound, and the injury heal 
up, leaving only a larger or smaller cicatrix, or scar, ac- 
cording to the exteut of the wound received, the stem 
eventually becomes so attenuated and weak as frequently 
to break off at or above the place where the wound was 
first made. 

The preventive of this disease would be, to take great 
care when hoeing, not to bruise nor injure the young plant, 
as, when the growth is once stopped by an accidental 
bruise, or abrasion of the bark, the plant, if not broken 
down by storms, or the weight of its own top foliage, will 
always appear stunted or weak. 

There is also said to be another species of " sore-shin," 



240 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

to which the young cotton plant is liable, differing entirely 
from that occasioned by careless hoeing, the cause of which 
is attributed by many to cold, cutting winds, when the 
plant is very young. Others, however, assert that, when a 
high wind shakes the tender plant, the main stem is so 
much bent and twisted, that the sap vessels are upturned, 
and a serious injury occurs ; but the wound is sometimes 
healed, and if the cotton grows vigorously afterward, it 
apparently outgrows the shock. 

FBENCHING. 

In certain portions of the plantations, in many parts of 
Florida, individual plants grow with white or variegated 
leaves. This peculiarity is termed " Frenching ; " but, as I 
observed only a few thus marked, it may, perhaps be only 
a sport of Nature, similar to the variegated leaves of culti- 
vated plants of our gardens. Indian corn, however, is subject 
to " French ; " and, in this case, the disease has been attrib- 
uted to some imperfection of the soil; to improper use of 
manures, as well as to various other causes. Be this as it 
may, it appears as if only certain spots, varying in area in 
the same field, are attacked, sometimes in succession, year 
after year, while the remainder of the crop is perfectly 
healthy and good. When corn is thus Frenched on what 
are termed "Frenched lands," it grows light-colored, some- 
times almost white, or striped, and bears no crop. Until 
this Frenched land has been thoroughly and properly ana- 
lyzed, it would be iiseless to say any thing more on a subject 
so little understood ; and I merely mention this disease 
here to invite public attention to it, and to induce practical 
farmers to experiment, in order to find out the cause, and, 
should one be discovered, to suggest some remedy for its 
removal. 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 241 



THE EFFECTS OF A BAD SUBSOIL. 

When on the plantation of Major Haywood, of Talla- 
hassee, in Florida, in the month of August, several very fine 
and apparently healthy cotton plants, from four to five 
feet in height, covered with forms and bolls, were observed 
to be dying suddenly, in certain spots, the leaves being 
withered, as if the damage had been done within twenty- 
four hours. Such plants eventually died ; and, on taking 
them up, no worm, insect, nor injury, either external or 
internal, could be discovered; and the only conclusion that 
could be drawn was, that some of the roots had suddenly 
penetrated into a soil totally unfitted for, and evidently 
deleterious to, the life of a plant. What rendered it the 
more singular was, the fact that other cotton plants were 
growing most luxuriantly within one or two feet of that 
which was stricken. 

THE RUST. 

The cotton plant is also subject to a disease called the 
" rust." The leaves, when first attacked, appear rather yel- 
lower than the rest, with red spots on the surface, and often 
margined with the same red color. These leaves then turn 
yellower and redder every day, until the plant assumes a 
bright-red or almost a carmine appearance, when, finally, 
the whole of the foliage turns more of a brown color, and 
falls to the earth. When the disease attacks the boll, it 
assumes a difierent appearance, and is termed the "red"" 
or " black " rust, as the case may be. The cotton, in such 
bolls as have been attacked by the black rust, and the bolla 
themselves, shrivel up, and turn dark-colored, as if they 
had been severely blighted or mildewed, and are totally 
valueless. 

11 



242 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

This disease has been attributed to leaving poteberry 
plants in the field. But this I have never observed, and 
suppose the assumption to be on the same principle that 
the mildew on wheat was formerly attributed to the influ- 
ence of the barbeny bush. Others state that rust is owing 
to an imdue proportion of lime in the earth, and it is 
no doubt caused by some organic or inorganic imperfection 
of the soil in which it is grown ; but until such soil shall 
have been thoroughly analyzed, and its component parts 
correctly ascertained, nothing certain can be known about it. 
There is also another theory in regard to the subject of the 
rust — that it is entirely owing to atmospheric changes, and 
not to the soil. Experiments, however, ought to be insti- 
tuted to find out the real cause, and the result made 
known, as the disease has done, and is at present doing, 
much injury to the crops of the South. Salt, sown at the 
rate of half a bushel to the acre among cotton, is stated to 
be a certain preventive of the rust, and to restore the plant 
to its former vigor; but several planters whom I have 
spoken to on the subject, deny the fact, and say that salt 
had no effect whatever. 

There is also another species of rust caused by an 
acarus, which will be found described on a preceding page. 

SHEDDING OF YOUNG BUDS, OR BOLLS, CAUSED BY WET 
WEATHER. 

When the cotton blooms, or flowers, are exposed to the 
heavy and beating rains of a Southern climate, especially 
between the hours of ten and two, as they are opening, or 
have already opened, it frequently happens that such blooms 
prove barren. The outer calyx turns yellow, and eventually 
the unfertilized flower and immature boll fall to the ground, 
the seeds turn brown, and the fibre of the cotton is worth- 



DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 243 

less. This is generally attributed to the heavy drops of 
rain washing away the pollen, which should have impreg- 
nated the pistil ; the embryo seed-vessel, of course, never 
matures, but dries up and perishes. Bees, wasps, and in- 
sects in general, are Nature's agents in distributing the 
pollen, or fertilizing dust. As they fly from flower to 
flower, small particles of this dust adhere to some part of 
their l)odies or limbs, with which they impregnate the next 
flower while in search of honey or more dust. 

Sometimes the pistil and stamens of a cotton bloom 
are found eaten in such a manner as to distort them. This 
injuiy is often caused by the very young boll-worm, which, 
penetrating the young flower bud by a hole through the 
outer calyx, where the egg was laid, after eating several of 
the enclosed stamens and anthers, and injuring one side of 
the pistil, bores into the embryo boll, before it is shed. I 
have reared several caterpillars found in such situations, 
and proved them to be the true boll-worm. Moreover, I 
have found the hatched shell of the egg on the outer calyx, 
and traced the caterpillar's track through the petals to the 
stamens, and Anally to the boll itself. I will not, however, 
enlarge on this subject here, but refer to the article on 
" The Boll-worm," in a former part of this work. 

THE ROT, 

The " rot " has been attributed to a variety of causes, 
such as changes in the atmosphere, defects in the soil, the 
attacks of insects, and to the growth of fungi. Mr. Troup, 
in the " American Farmer," describes its appearance with 
great accuracy. He says : " The first indication is seen in 
a small circular spot on the outside of the boll, exhibiting 
a darker green than the circumjacent parts ; as if a globule 
of water had been dropped upon it, and been absorbed. 



244 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

Many of these are frequently seen at the same time on the 
same boll. They spread themselves, sometimes faster, 
sometimes slower, as if induced, either by the state of the 
atmosphere, or condition of the plant, changing color as 
they progress, until they assume a dark brown, approach- 
ing to black, and until the whole exterior is in like manner 
affected ; or until it receives, from some cause, a sudden 
check, and then this appearance is only partial. In the 
first case, the disease has penetrated to the centre of the 
fruit, the fermentation is complete and universal, and is 
seen in a frothy, white liquid thrown out on the surface. 
Putrefaction follows, and the destruction of the seed and 
immature wool being finished, nothing is left but the rind, 
or exterior coating of the boll, which, exhausted of its 
juices, hardens, turns black, and thus terminates the pro- 
cess. In the other case (that of suddenly checked disease), 
the interior of the boll in some instances remains unhurt ; 
in others, it is only partially injured ; and, in the last case, 
the pods, remaining unhurt, mature and expand. This, 
however, rarely happens, as the disease is wonderfully 
capricious, going and coming unaccountably, attacking at 
one time with more, at another with less violence ; so that 
the fruit, which escapes entire destruction on the first at- 
tack, may fall a victim on the second. Nor is this capri- 
ciousness justly attributable to the changes in the atmos- 
phere, as its origin does not seem to have any connection 
with the weather." 

It is very difficult to find out the true cause of this dis- 
ease, as it sometimes appears in dry as well as in wet years, 
although it is generally more destructive during rainy sea- 
sons. The young bolls are often found rotted, as well as 
the half-matured and old, so that the age of the fi:uit does 
not appear to have any thing to do with it. Many of them 



DISEASES OF THE COITOX PLANT. 245 

may have the interior entirely dried up and destroyed, 
while others will open with only one or two sei^meiits rot- 
ted, the rest being perfectly healthy, and filled with good 
white cotton. 

As \o the theory of a defect in the soil, it has heen 
stated by some planters that barnyard manure will often 
produce it ; but, if this is the case, it is somewhat singular 
that it has often been observed that one plant may be very 
badly affected b}' the rot, while others on each side are per- 
fectly healthy and uninjured, as has often been observed. 
This fiict appears to show that a great deal depends upon 
the constitution of the plant itself, which may be inherited 
from its parent, and perhaps a choice of good sound seed, 
from strong and healthy plants only, might in time have a 
great effect in remedying this disease; and, as we know 
that much depends upon the vigor, health, and prolific 
qualities of the parent plant, it might perhaps be well to 
make experiments by planting seed of diseased, and sound, 
healthy plants, m the same situation and soil. 

The fungoid growth, found on the old rotted bolls, 
when they begin to open, may perhaps be regarded more 
as the result than the cause of the disease. Several insects, 
it is true, have been found in these rotten bolls, where 
most probably they had crept for food and shelter, after the 
boll had become rotten, while others have been caught in 
the very act of piercing the bolls ; but this subject will be 
found treated at greater length under the head of " The 
Boll," and insects found in or upon it, on a preceding page. 

While on the subject of the rot, it may be well to 
mention that there are three glands on the inside of the 
outer calyx, at the bottom of the boll, and three on the 
outside between the " ruffle " and stalk, which secrete and 
give out a sweet substance, which ants, bees, wasps, and 



24:6 DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 

plant bugs avail tt em selves of as food. I have seen young 
bolls, apparently healthy, suddenly drop from the plant, 
and, on being carefully cut open, showed a vv^ound which 
had been pierced by the trunk of some insect, in one of 
these glands, and that a watery rot had commenced where 
the boll had been stung. It was evident that this rot had 
been caused by the piercer of some insect unknown, as the 
puncture could be traced throughout its length to the heart 
of the lower part of the injured boll. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CONCLUDING EEMARK8— THE COMPLICATED NETWORK OF COT- 
TON—INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRANTS— ADVANTAGES AND DIS- 
ADVANTAGES—FUTURE OF THE SOUTH. 



We wish to make a short, summary statement, and 
draw our labors to a close. 

1. Prior to the abolition of slavery, the production of 
cotton employed capital to the amount of two billion 
dollars : landed property and implements being estimated 
at about two hundred million dollars, and the balance 
estimated as the value of the slaves. 

2. Since the abolition of slavery, the capital invested in 
the production of cotton in the United States does not 
exceed two hundred million dollars. 

3. It furnishes labor in the field for one million of 
souls. 

4. It feeds the spindles of one thousand manufactories 
in the United States, and of five thousand manufactories 
in Europe. 

5. It has paid nearly two-thirds of the national debt of 
the United States for the last fifty years. 

6. It is a wonderful source of wealth, enriching the 
planter, the manufacturer, the cotton broker, the ship- 
master, and the merchant. 

1. It has, within the present century, cheered the 



248 CONCLUDING KEMAKK8. 

hearts of billions of operatives in both hemispheres, fed 
their hungry mouths, and the mouths of their dependants. 

8. It goes to the hovels of wretchedness, and adminis- 
ters comfort. It enters the palace of the millionnaire, and 
defiantly says, " Do without me if you can ! " 

9. In all the complications of agriculture, manufactures, 
and commerce it bears an important part ; yea, exercises a 
controlling influence. If "commerce is king," cotton is 
prime minister. 

10. The cotton locks of the South are the best on the 
face of the globe, and must have an increasing demand. 

11. The labor of the present year will probably produce 
1,500,000 bales; certainly not more, and perhaps less. 

12. The amount on hand now in England, together 
with all she will likely receive from all other countries than 
this, cannot supply the demand. England wants 4,000,000 
bales. She will probably receive 2,500,000 bales from all 
other countries "besides North America. Deduct this from 
the 4,000,000, and we have exactly 1,500,000 bales. 

13. But what will France do, and Belgium, and 
Switzerland, and the German Zollverein states ? They all 
want some of our cotton, and will have it. 

14. The demand for cotton in England and on the 
Continent, for the year 1867, will be unprecedented. It 
ought to command a good price. 

15. The cry will be for years to come, ay, for ages, 
"Give us more cotton — good cotton, American cotton — 
fine fibre." 

16. Cotton being in such great demand, laborers will 
be well compensated who prove themselves faithful to their 
employers. 

17. Cotton lands will be in good request, and must 
bear a good price. 



CONCLUDING REMAKKS. 249 

1 8. If protected by the government by the simple and 
most beautiful process of letting us alone, and placing no 
obstacles in our way, there is laid up for us, in our soil, 
an incalculable amount of wealth. 

To industrious immigrants we say. Come on, and try the 
country. We have some disadvantages in many parts of 
the South, physical and moral, but these are found else- 
where. Much of our country has been laid waste by the 
ruthless hands of the destroyer and the robber, but it is 
fast recovering. We have the miasmatic fevers of the 
Mississippi Valley, but they are not more fatal than the 
same forms of disease away out in the West. 

We have mosquitoes, buffalo-gnats, and gad-flies, but 
they do not continue all the year. We have the boll-worm, 
the cotton louse, and the cotton caterpillar, which sometimes 
sadden the heart of the ] lanter, but we always make some- 
thing, and not unfrequently we make " a mighty big crop." 

We close our volume by an extract from the " Prison 
Life of Jefferson Davis : " 

" In ten years, or perhaps less, the South will have 
recovered the pecuniary losses of the war. It has had 
little capital in manufactures. Its capital was in land and 
negroes. The land remains productive as ever. The 
negroes remain, but their labor has to be paid for. Before 
the war there were 4,000,000 negroes, and the estimate 
that 1,000,000 have died off during the war is too large. 

"As to a mingling of the races, Nature has erected 
ample barriers against the crime. There is no danger of 
its prevalence. 

" The blacks are a docile, affectionate, and religious 
people ; like cats in their fondness for home. The name of 
freedom had charms for them ; but until educated to be 
self-supporting, it would be a curse. 
11* 



250 CONCLUDmG KEMAKKS. 

" If herded together in military villages, and fed on 
rations gratuitously distributed, rum, dirt, and disease 
would devour them off the face of the earth in a few years. 
With peace established they would return, in ninety-five 
cases out of the hundred, to their old plantations, and work 
for their old masters. 

" The value of the slaves before the war was two 
thousand million dollars. This is all gone. StiU the 
negro's labor remains ; and with this, and such European 
labor as will be imported, and such Northern labor as must 
flow South, the profits of the Southern staples will not be 
long in restoring material prosperity. 

" The negro, in his freedom, will not make more than 
six bales of cotton per year. Under the old system of 
labor he made ten. But the price has more than doubled, 
and his labor now must yield a large profit. 

" The land will not pass to any great extent from its 
former proprietors. They will lease it for a few years to 
men with capital, and then resume working it themselves, 
or sell portions of it with the same object, not materially 
decreasing their own possessions. 

" When the country is quiet, and the profits of the 
crops come to be known, there will be a rush Southward 
from the sterile New England regions, and from Europe, 
only equalled by that to California on the discovery of 
gold. Men will not stay in the mountains of Vermont 
and New Hampshire, cultivating little farms of from fifty 
to a hundred acres, only yielding them some few hundreds 
a year profit for incessant toil, when the rich lands of the 
South, under skies as warm and blue as those of Italy, and 
with an atmosphere as exhilarating as that of France, are 
thrown open at from a dollar and a half to three dollars 
per acre. [Kather too low an estimate at this time. Say 



CONCLUDESTG EEMAKK8. 251 

frorn three dollars to thirty. — B.] The water power of 
the South will be brought into use by this new immigra- 
tion, and manufactures will spring up in all directions, 
giving abundant employment to all classes." 

One year and three months have elapsed since the utter- 
ance of the foregoing prophecy by the distinguished prisoner 
at Fortress Monroe, Since that time, we have seen crowds 
of negroes coming home to their old masters. We have 
seen many of them dying at military posts. We have seen 
the grasping Puritan leasing land at ten dollars per acre, 
hiring Southern overseers, and making money. We have 
seen some of them try the experiment with a few trifling 
white men and as many trifling freedmen, and mate a per- 
fect failure. 

We have seen manufactures springing up, as if by the 
magician's wand, all over the South. We have seen our 
noble women encouraging their husbands and sons to 
work. We have seen our brave young men marching in 
files and columns to the field to fight the enemy, chopping 
cotton to the music of " Dixie.'''' 

And while viewing these things, and trying to look into 
the future, we called to mind a lesson impressed on us 
more than forty years ago by a worthy teacher. " Boys," 
said he, " who was the first laborer ? " Some said Cain, 
some Abel, and some Adam. 

" You are all wrong," said our worthy president, " God 
was the first laborer. Don't you remember Deus creavit 
caelum et terram intra sex dies? And, again, it is said, He 
rested from His labor. Now translate this short sentence, 
Labor vincit omnia.'''' With wonderful concord we all ex- 
claimed, " Labor conquers all things." 



r»ROSI>KCTTJS 



f 

AND NEW YORK VINDIOATOE. 
— •♦« 

ENLARGEMExXT OF THE PAPER 
FROM SIXTY-FOUR TO EIGHTY COLUMNS. 



THE POLITIOAL PLATFORM OF THE BECORD. 

After the pu))lical\on of the •26th number of the RECORD, of last 
year, we Increased ITt^ SIZE from SIXTY-FOUR to EIGHTY COL- 
UMNS. IT IS NOW THE LARGEST DEMOCRATIC AND FAM- 
ILY PAPER PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES; and, al- 
though our expenses are very heavily increased by the change, we 
supply the paper at the same price. The reading matter is of a 
more varied and interesting character, on account of the greater 
space placed at our disposal, and which is equal to FOUR AD- 
DITIONAL PAGES, or SIXTEEN COLUMNS. We are encouraged 
to this change by the success that has attended our efforts to present 
the public with a paper that has held fast, through every vicissitude, 
to the two cardinal principles of State Rights and Self-Government, 
and that refused amid the fearful conflict of the past four years to 
lower the banner on which those principles were inscribed. We feel 
certain that this eflFort on our part to render our paper in every way 
deserving of the continued support of our friends, will be met by a 
generous and active cooperation on theirs in enabling us to extend its 
circulation. We know it will gratify them to be told that, despite 
the malice and persecution of our political enemies, despite the sup- 
pr^sion of the Record and the arrest of its editor, despite the oflieial 
power which was wielded to our disadvantage and material injury, 
we have been enabled to weather the storm in which so many went 



down, and are now looking forward with hope to a greater degree of 
usefulness in the future. For our part, we have no change whatever 
to make in our principles. The great political dogmas enunciated 
by the men of 1776, are as true to-day as they were then; and, 
though they have been forgotten by the people and trampled under 
foot by arbitrary power, it is only bj' a return to them that popular 
freedom can be saved from the dangers by which it is beset, through 
fanatics on the one hand, and designing and unprincipled politicians 
on the other. 

We see no reason, after a full survey of the whole political field, 
to despair of the ultimate success of the principles for which we have 
contended. Force has been applied, and it has not decided, because 
it was not competent to decide, that the principles of State Rights 
and Self-Goverument have ceased to exist. It is needless to pursue 
this subject further, as its force must be apparent to every unbiased 
and impartial mind. 

The future is before us, and as a journalist we shall perform oui 
duty hereafter as we have performed it in the past. We have, as we 
said, no change to make. The RECORD'S platform of principles re- 
mains the same. It will be henceforward its aim to be a truthful 
and unswerving exponent of State Rights, and it is therefore inflex- 
ibly opposed to the anti-Democratic policy of consolidation. Believ- 
ing that popular freedom in this Republic is dependent upon State 
Sovereignty, it is at war with all despotic encroachments on that prin- 
ciple and the rights of the people. It shall never cease to advocate 
the supremacy of the Civil Authority, and to denounce and condemn 
the pretensions and usurpations of Military Power. 

In the future, as in the past, the RECORD will continue the faith- 
ful advocate of Democratic principles. It is true that recent events, 
brought about by a fanatical interference with the rights of States, 
and by an intolerance of the Constitution and laws made in accord- 
ance therewith, have caused a temporary revulsion ; but the princi- 
ples of the great revolution ave only kept in abeyance, and will, we 
believe, be reasserted ere many years elapse. The people have yet 
to learn from experience that the lessons and teachings of the great 
statesmen who formed the Republic cannot be set aside unless by the 
total overthrow of popular freedom and self-government. No fact 
was more corapletely established, no principle more thormighly \in- 



s 

dicated, llian that which asserts that " Government derives its just 
powers from the consent of the governed," and that a Union which 
can only be perpetuated by the strong arm of military power, must, 
if continued to be so sustained, result in the establishment of a cen- 
traUzed despotism. 

The Record and Vindicator shall continue, as it has begun, the 
outspoken and fearless opponent of every act of unconstitutional 
policy, the defender of the great Charter of American Freedom, and 
the unflinching advocate of Liberty of Speech, Vote by Ballot, Us 
beas Corpus, Trial by Jury, Freedom of the Press, and State Rights. 

LITERARY DEPARTMENT. 

We devote special attention to this part of the Record, as each 
number beais ample testimony, and the " Portfolio " is one of its 
best and most successful features, blending, as it does, the humorous 
and the poetical with light sketches, anecdotes, and incidents in end- 
less variety. All the contributions to this department are original, 
and the general approbation with which it has been received by the 
reading public stamps it as a complete success. We may add that 
the original poetry, which appears in this and other parts of the 
paper, is not surpassed, if it is equalled, by any journal, American or 
European. 

THE FICTIONAL DEPARTMENT. 

While ignoring the unhealthy and sensational style of too many 
of the current periodicals, we aim to make this department unsur- 
passed in point of interest to the best works of imagination, and 
shall leave nothing undone to render it equal, in its collection of 
original stories and tales, to the most popular and highest class uf 
the fictional productions of the day. We are determined that no 
paper shall excel ours in this important feature, and that the younger 
portion of our patrons will find in its entertaining and pleasant 
reading a happy substitute for the dubious kind with whicli tlie 
country is unfortunately flooded. 

THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT. 

In our political platform we have presented the principles of the 
Record, and it shall be hereafter, as it has been in the past, our 
great object to sustain its reputation in this great and vital particu- 



4 

lar. The frank and outspoken manner with which all the subjects 
that properly come within the scope of this department have been 
treated, will be adhered to throughout. The editor firmly believes 
that the principles which he advocated and sustained during the 
late fierce and bloody four years' war, are, if possible, more essential 
now than ever, and that in their success alone can the great Revolu- 
tion of "76 find its best and most practical development. 

THE NEWS DEPARTMENT. 

It is our aim to give in the Record a complete resum6 of 
news, both through the correspondence and the general intelligence, 
prepared expressly for its columns. Our Foreign and Domestic 
Summary, in which the important intelligence of the day is given, is all 
rewritten, so that our readers are saved the trouble of poring over 
long and tedious statements and accounts to got at the points of the 
news. The commendation which this department of the Record has 
generally received is the best proof of its success. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

In addition to the departments enumerated, we give from time to 
time art and scientific matters due attention, and occasionally present 
an interesting and instructive melange of miscellaneous reading. 

The Metropolitan Record and Vindicator will be supplied to 
Subscribers on the following terms : 

To City Subscribers, served by carriers $5 00 per year. 

To Country Subscribers, served by mail .... 4 00 " 

To Clubs of ten or more 3 00 " 

(payable in advance). 
Terms to Advertisers : 

Special Notices 25 cts. per line. 

To Transient Advertisers 15 " 

To Yearly Advertisers 10 " 

All orders and communications should be addressed to the editor, 
No 424 Broome Street. 

1^" The Editor would ask as a favor that his Subscribers would 
furnish him with the names and addresses of their friends in other 
States, as well as that in which they reside, that he may have the 
opportunity of supplying them with specimen copies of the Record, 
which he will do without any cost to them. 



^ 



